Raining Blood - The Forgotten Existence
by EndlessLunacy
Summary: Allen Walker, is an ancient vampire living in an abandoned mansion all alone. Every now and then, he lives off of hapless youths who dares to wander into his home. After which, he spends the rest of his time in isolation. But a sword-wielding man barges in one day, seeking to slaughter him. And so it starts, the game between a vampire and a hunter intent on taking his life.
1. Allen Walker

**Disclaimer:** All DGM characters in this story belongs to Hoshino Katsura, creator of D. Gray-man.

 **A/N:** I wanted to join in on reviving the DGM fandom, so I wrote something. I hope you'll enjoy it!

* * *

 **Chapter One**

Allen Walker

* * *

Allen Walker softly exhaled, gazing out the window at the pure white world.

It was right in the middle of winter, and the snowfall had covered everything. From every surface of his large garden to the bare trees in the forest a distance away, it was all pure white.

It has been a long time since he had seen this much snow.

The last time such heavy snowfall happened was about three centuries ago. The humans in the towns must be frantic right now, trying desperately to keep themselves warm.

And here Allen was, his window fully open, allowing the biting cold air into his mansion. His white hair and the white cloak he had picked up blended in perfectly with the snow around him. Like a doll, he remained by the window, not moving an inch.

He was steadily being covered with snow, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The snow wouldn't melt anyway. As a vampire, his heart had long stopped beating, and his body no longer produced any heat. And he couldn't feel the cold either.

The white cloak he had picked up many, many years ago did not provide any warmth at all, even with the thick fur lining at the top. He distractedly wondered what animal it was made of, because it was oddly spikey.

Perhaps it was even stranger how the white cloak never got dirty even after all these years. Allen wouldn't be surprised if it actually used to belong to another supernatural creature.

Silver eyes blinked once, causing the little snowflakes gathered on his eyelashes to flutter down.

There was silence all around him, with only the sound of the wind as his company. In the dead of winter, all the animals had hidden themselves.

But this silence, Allen was used to it.

How long has it been since he started living this way? Allen couldn't recall. He couldn't even remember when it was exactly that he had been turned into a vampire.

But he does recall killing his creator, very vividly at that.

* * *

x

* * *

His creator, who went by the name of Mana Walker.

They had lived together for a long time, with Allen being oblivious about Mana's true identity as a vampire. Mana had pick up the abandoned Allen by the roadside, where he was huddled within the alleyways to block out the cold.

It was snowing that day too, but it wasn't heavy.

Still, the cold was terribly painful to bear, especially since young Allen back then only had a long sleeved shirt and pants to keep him warm.

He had actually thought that that was going to be the day that he finally died, but then Mana appeared. He was dressed in a worn suit, a coat and a top hat that concealed most of his face. And he was tall, very tall.

He reached out towards Allen, dusting off the snow gathered upon his head with a gloved hand. He smiled as Allen's head of reddish-brown hair was revealed.

The Mana that appeared before him, took his cold hands and gently, oh so gently, invited Allen to stay with him.

Allen was extremely suspicious at first, but the cold drove him to accept Mana's help.

He was given a warm place to stay in, warm food to eat, comfortable clothes to wear.

But still, because he was suspicious about Mana, he wouldn't stay with him for long. He would always leave that warm place, and wander about the streets.

Mana never stopped him, never told him that he couldn't leave.

But whenever Allen did not return for more than two weeks, Mana would always, always, come to find him.

Many months passed that way, and Allen eventually began to stay longer and longer in Mana's home.

Because he finally realised that Mana was lonely.

Though Mana never said a word about his true feelings, Allen was able to pick up on the deep loneliness within Mana.

And so he stayed by Mana's side.

Eventually, Mana became a 'father' to Allen.

Mana, too, clearly adored Allen. And over time, he slowly grew to love Allen like he was his own son, always ruffling his reddish-brown hair to annoy him and to show affection. Allen complained, but he didn't truly hate it.

There were times where Mana would disappear soundlessly, returning about a day or two later. Sometimes, he would return with his clothes speckled with blood. Allen noticed, of course. But he never asked.

Perhaps he was unconsciously afraid, so he could not bring himself to mention it.

By Mana's side, Allen grew up well.

He grew from a young child into a teenager, with Mana celebrating his birthdays with him every year, without fail. Mana had picked his birthday date since Allen didn't know when his was. The day that Mana picked up him became Allen's treasured birthday. And though Allen did not say it, but he was truly happy.

Until one day, Mana started acting strange.

He began to softly murmur to himself about things Allen could not understand. He broke the glasses and plates without warning, and sometimes collapsing into a crying mess.

Afraid and helpless, Allen watched as Mana started his descend into madness.

No, perhaps Mana had already been mad since a long time ago.

Mana shut himself up in the house, refusing to take a single step outside. Allen stayed by his side as much as he could, many times coaxing Mana into eating, only to fail. That was when Allen realised that Mana was _not human,_ he couldn't be human, because even after two months of not eating or drinking, Mana was still alive.

Even after that revelation, Allen did not leave Mana's side.

Human or not, it was Mana who had helped him back then. And now, Allen wanted to be the one to help him.

He was unsure about what type of non-human Mana was, and it was currently impossible for him to get any answers out of Mana.

Mana did not acknowledge his presence, constantly murmuring about something Allen couldn't decipher. But that did not matter to Allen, he only patiently took care of Mana. Every day, he would try to feed Mana. When Mana did not eat, Allen ate his portion. He was not foolish enough to forsake his health.

He needed to be strong, needed to be healthy, in order to care for Mana.

Mana was a big guy, much taller than Allen.

To help him, Allen needed strength.

It was about a year later that Mana suddenly snapped.

He ran around the house, destroying everything in sight. Allen could barely hold him back.

In the midst of all the chaos, for the first time in a year, Mana finally looked Allen in the eye.

Allen froze, staring into Mana's insane eyes.

"…Al..len. Allen. Allen…"

Mana's voice was painfully hoarse, and the tone in which he called his name jarred Allen's ears.

When Mana began to approach him, Allen flinched.

He stumbled back, away from Mana.

He did not know why, but something was screaming at him to run.

Run away from Mana.

Mana never once took his eyes off Allen, forcing him back into a corner.

Allen's fearful gaze only seemed to spur Mana on.

And then Mana threw himself at Allen, stretching his mouth open impossibly wide as he did so. Allen could clearly see the large, sharp fangs protruding from Mana's gums, coming straight for him. Allen dodged, running away.

But Mana displayed a shocking speed that he never shown before, pinning Allen down on his stomach.

Allen cried out, begging for Mana to stop.

Mana never did.

The piercing pain of fangs tearing into his skin caused him to scream, as the deep growls from Mana filled his ears. Allen struggled as much as he could, but he couldn't win against Mana.

His head went light, his vision blurring.

Was he still breathing? Allen didn't know.

… _Allen…_

Mana's voice?

Mana was calling him…

 _Allen… Destroy me._

Mana? What are you talking about?

Allen was confused, unable to think clearly.

Distantly, Allen realised that there was suddenly blood filling his mouth. His throat moved, swallowing it down. He watched through hazy vision as his body moved on its own, obeying Mana's will. Somehow or another, he had turned his body around and was desperately biting at Mana's neck, drinking the blood that spilled forth.

Then he flung Mana away from him, sending him crashing into the walls.

Allen's body was heaving, his breathing coming out in gasps.

He only watched numbly as his body moved, taking heavy steps towards Mana.

Mana had turned his head, his entire body limp as he stared at the approaching Allen.

Allen crouched before Mana, resting one hand on his chest. There was a pause, broken only by harsh breathing. Allen pulled his hand back, plunging it straight into Mana's chest. His hand stopped when it circled around Mana's heart.

Mana coughed, and Allen's eyes shifted to his face.

Mana…

Mana was smiling at him.

The same smile that Mana always gave him; a smile filled with warmth. It was a smile that Allen had not seen in more than a year.

"Allen, I love you."

Allen's eyes widened.

"…Mana…"

Allen's hand clenched around Mana's heart without his permission, even as he screamed for his hand to stop, but his body wasn't his anymore. Tears ran down his face, leaving two burning hot trails in its wake.

From within his mind, he helplessly looked on as 'Allen' ripped out Mana's heart.

And then, he consumed it.

Mana's body disintegrated before his eyes, turning into nothing more than a pile of ash.

He turned and left that house, never looking back.

* * *

It was not an instant change, but rather, it was gradual.

Even after killing Mana, even after weeping for what he did, Allen realised his body did not change. There were no fangs, his heart continued to beat, and his body was still warm.

Mana was always cold.

His hands, his feet, and even his skin were painfully cold.

Allen wondered if he did not become a vampire.

Was he still human? He had to be, because he was still warm.

Delusional and hopeful, Allen tried hard to blend into the people in the towns. He was never good with people, but somehow, he was able to succeed.

He did not know when it happened exactly, it may have been a few months later, or perhaps a few years.

But one day, his body began to change.

His memories of his change were hazy, but he did recall being in constant severe pain. Everything hurt; his face, his teeth, his limbs, and even his heart.

He was immensely lucky that he was in his home when it happened. He lived the furthest away from the town square, with no one living around him because it was too far, too inconvenient, for them. Surely, he must have been screaming in pain.

When he was finally aware of himself, a look into the mirror had him crying out in shock.

His once reddish-brown hair was now a complete pure white, with a long scar running down the left side of his face, and the worst was his arm.

The very arm that he had used to rip out Mana's heart was now pure black; halfway up his upper arm, the black changed into swirls that went around his arm up until his shoulder. It ended with little arrow-like designs.

Allen flex his hand, and though it was a little stiff, he was still able to move it.

It would get better after a while.

Brushing his white hair out of his eyes, Allen intently stared at the scar running through his left eye. The scar started with a filled in pentacle above his eye, connected by a long vertical line that sharply curved around his cheek and ended close to his chin. There was also a horizontal scar running parallel to his lower left eyelid.

And a little hesitant, Allen opened his mouth.

There, in his mouth, there were fangs.

There were four in total. The two on his upper jaw were retractable, but the ones on his lower jaw were not. Though the lower ones were not exceptionally long, but compared to a normal human's, they were large indeed.

With morbid curiosity, Allen fully extended his upper fangs.

The fangs grew and grew, growing past his bottom lip.

Pulling them back in, Allen stared at his reflection in the mirror.

The hair was one thing, but these strange deformities that appeared on his body would only cause unnecessary attention.

It was time to leave.

Allen packed up his stuff; there was not much he had.

In the dead of the night, Allen left.

As he walked, he realised that his vision had changed too. Seeing in the dark was easy, he was even able to count how many planks the fence from the opposite house had, all in total darkness.

And not only that, but Allen found out that he had no problems seeing far away.

His eyesight was so good, to the point where Allen felt unnerved.

He travelled far, far away from any towns.

And eventually found an old abandoned mansion buried deep within the forests.

After making sure that there was no one in the mansion, Allen proceeded to occupy that place.

And there he remained, in complete isolation.


	2. Prey

**A/N:** Thank you for all your interest! I'm happy.

Please enjoy.

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

Prey

* * *

Allen blinked, snapped out of his thoughts by something moving in the forest.

His head shifted slightly as he looked down at the figures of three grown men trudging through the snow. Were they hiking?

Maybe not. It was probably too cold out for such a thing. So why have they come?

To the humans, he was only a being in their legends.

They spread countless tales about vampires, taking joy in their make-believe stories. They didn't fear him, because they didn't believe that he existed.

He didn't care, because his life in isolation wasn't disturbed.

There were those who chance upon his mansion, and turned it into a game of dare among themselves. Allen wasn't one to go out and hunt, so when his prey came to him on his own, he gladly accepted.

It has been that way for a long, long time.

Until recently, he noticed that there was too much fuss happening around him.

He didn't know what was going on, didn't know the reason for why the humans were so restless. After all, he had never bothered to involve himself deeply with the humans.

Allen silently watched the group of three humans struggle to walk in the knee-high snow, calling back encouragements to each other every now and then. They were making a path, straight for the mansion he was in.

Allen was curious.

Perhaps this time, he may be able to gather some information about the fuss going on around him, so he remained where he was, waiting for them to come closer to that he could hear them.

It took a couple of hours, with some breaks for those three to rest.

Finally, they managed to reach the gates of the mansion.

"Is this it?" One of them asked.

"Yes. This is the only mansion around here." Another one replied.

The third man frowned, his eyes roaming around the snow covered garden behind the large gates.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "That this is where that monster lives?"

"Yes. There have been reports of young teenagers going missing around here. Their bodies could not be found, and the only place that was not searched is the mansion."

"But if there really lives a monster here, I doubt we will find any bodies left. The monster may have consumed everything."

Allen's eyebrow twitched.

These men… They were so rude.

Allen was not the type to eat flesh, he only took the blood of others. Though he was unsure if other vampires ate human flesh, but at least, he didn't. And there weren't any other vampires around here, only him.

He would always release his prey after drinking from them. Of course, after erasing their memories.

So it was not him who caused those teenagers to go missing.

Then, was that the reason the humans were restless?

Because there had been many of their own going missing?

How typical of them. When something of out the ordinary happens, they would always find something – _someone_ – to place the blame on. Humans were too weak, too fragile. They couldn't even bear the burden of their fear without directing it at someone.

"Sir, how are we to get in? If the monster notices us, we would be dead!" The smallest of the three of them asked.

Allen only lazily gazed at them.

If they really wanted to hide themselves, they should have done better. Allen had been watching them way before they came anywhere near his mansion.

He swallowed then, his throat feeling exceptionally dry.

He was thirsty.

It has been a while since he ate.

Perhaps he could capture one of the man below to eat.

"We will be fine, we just have to be silent and extra careful." The man to the left of the smallest one spoke. He had a good build, and was rather tall too. Probably the tallest out of the three men.

The man on the right was no different, though he wasn't as tall nor well build.

The stronger the human, the tastier their blood was, be it women or men. That didn't mean that the women had to be muscular though. As long as they were physically fit, it was enough. It was a pity that Allen only had the chance to taste a handful of women, since they do not come anywhere near his mansion as often as men do.

But gender didn't really matter to him anymore.

All he wanted was to sink his fangs into the warm blood flowing in their bodies.

He watched on as they begin to climb up the gates, throwing themselves over to land on the snow-laden ground. They were clumsy and way too loud.

The pure white snow-covered garden was steadily turning a dirty brown.

With his decision made, Allen turned around, dusting off the snow collected on his body and the cloak. He silently slipped away, waiting for the prey he had chosen to enter.

"What are you doing? Stop gawking and let's move!"

"Ah, sir! That… Just now…"

"What?"

"Something moved just now, up there! On the third level of the mansion!"

"Huh?"

"What are you saying! Don't try to frighten us!"

"No, I'm not! I swear I saw something move!"

"Shut up! You guys are being too loud!"

"…Sorry, sir."

"Sorry, Old Man."

"Who are you calling 'old man', you brat!"

"Ouch! Don't hit me!"

"Come on. Hurry up. We're heading in."

"Okay."

* * *

Allen smirked as he gazed at the two men running away from the mansion.

All it took was a little scare for them to run away with their tails between their legs. Though he did injure them slightly, but it wasn't enough to cause any fatal wounds. And he had made sure to not show his face.

The only one he showed it to, was the trembling man he held in his grip.

It seemed that his blackened arm contained much more power than his normal one, so he had taken to using it to catch his prey.

He was always successful, of course.

And the one he had decided to eat from the three of them was now dangling from his grip around the man's neck.

"…You. What are you?" The man forced out the question, even while he couldn't draw in enough air. Allen admired his ability to conceal as much of his fear as he could, even going as far as to make his voice sound fierce.

"You look no older than a teenager. Was it you who was doing all the killings? Are you the one behind the missing people? Why would you do something like that?" The man fired his questions at Allen in a single breath.

Allen blinked.

Maybe this man was not so much courageous, as just plain stupid?

Allen was obviously not human, not if he could lift a man of such build off the ground with just one hand. Or maybe the man was just in denial? He refused to see the truth before him.

Allen frowned for a second.

And then he smiled.

It didn't matter.

If he was going to deny this thing happening to him now, it would only make it easier for Allen to tamper with his memories.

Every now and then, Allen would get prey who would snap at him, cursing him even as they trembled terribly from fear. They were the ones who prattle on endlessly while Allen simply smiled at them, sometimes even learning interesting tidbits of the humans.

He didn't bother speaking to the man now though, just bringing him close to pierce his fangs in.

Blood flooded down his throat, and Allen's eyes momentarily glowed red as he drank.

The man was big, sturdy, and obviously healthy. Like this, Allen could drink much more than he normally could with a weak, unfit human. That also meant that he would not need to feed himself so often.

Allen released his grip on the man, dropping him to the floor as he wiped up the blood that was running down his chin with his thumb. Bringing his bloodied thumb to his lips, he leisurely licked it clean. Once satisfied, he turned his gaze to the man on the ground. The man had long fainted, with two obvious holes on his neck.

Allen pulled the man up by his shirt, licking his neck to urge the wounds to heal.

Then he rested a hand on the man's forehand, his body glowing with a white aura as he began modifying the man's memories.

Once done, he dragged the man behind him as he made his way out of the mansion.

About halfway into the forest, Allen dropped the man. This should be far enough. He had placed a suggestion in the man's mind – for him to quickly return home – as a precaution. It would be troublesome if the man tried making his way back to Allen's mansion.

With the softest rustle of cloth, Allen left.

Now that he has eaten his fill, he should be fine with sleeping for a while. Perhaps when he wakes a few years later, everything would have settled down.

Or maybe, something more interesting might be awaiting him.


	3. The Game Begins

**A/N:**

 **To jy24:** Kanda and Allen, working together? In this story and with its setting, that's impossible. I have other plans for them.

Thank you for all your supportive reviews! Now, please enjoy.

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

The Game Begins

* * *

Allen blinked lethargically.

Reaching out a hand, he pushed the top of the coffin open. Dim light flooded into his comfortable coffin, making Allen squint for a moment. He slowly rose to sit up, rubbing his eyes. Looking out the distant window high up on the wall, he realised that dawn was breaking.

Pushing himself to his feet, he stepped out of his coffin.

He had found this coffin at the basement of the abandoned mansion a long time ago, stored in a corner, unused.

He wasn't sure why there was a coffin there, but when he opened it, there weren't any rotting corpses inside. So he took it as his own. It was surprisingly comfortable, but not comparable to a bed. Still, his vampire body quite liked the feeling of sleeping in a coffin.

Allen stretched himself out, sighing softly.

He strolled to the living room, taking his usual place by the window.

He liked the position of the window, where it allowed him to take in the view of everything outside of his mansion. And the fact that he was so high up was really convenient, because he could look out for any signs of a human approaching.

He wondered how many years had passed since he went into sleep.

It was in the middle of spring now, with the birds singing out their songs to greet the day. Far into the distance, the town did look a little different from what he remembered. But though he was curious, there was no pressing need to find out about what year it was.

Time didn't affect Allen after all.

Just like always, he stood by that window, watching the days and nights blend into each other.

The seasons changed, from spring to autumn.

The leaves turned from green to a vibrant array of red, orange and yellows. The entire forest lit up with the colours of autumn, a surreal beauty that no painter could imitate.

It was in the late evening one day, when his stagnant life was suddenly broken by the appearance of a distant figure in the forest, headed straight for his mansion. He blinked in surprise. Whoever that was, they moved with fluid grace, never taking more steps than necessary, completely unlike normal humans.

Allen focused on the figure, his sharp sliver gaze watching everything.

Halfway through the forest and the figure was finally close enough for Allen take in even the smallest details.

Long black hair tied up into a ponytail, a strong gaze coupled with a perpetual frown, donning black clothes from head to toe and finally, a long weapon secured to their side. That… Was that a _sword?_

Allen rapidly blinked, unable to believe it.

It has been a long time since he had ever seen anyone carrying a sword around. The last time he had seen it, was when he was still living within the towns as a human.

Taking a second glance, Allen studied the quickly approaching figure.

For a very brief moment, he had thought it was a girl making her way towards him. But after taking in the broad shoulders and the clearly masculine physique, he realised that it was indeed a strong man.

A mild pricking formed in his throat and Allen swallowed.

He was thirsty.

It was just a very mild thirst, not enough for Allen to lose his mind.

Softly humming, Allen slipped behind a torn curtain as the man's large strides brought him to the gates of Allen's mansion in just a few more steps. Just as he hid himself, Allen could have sworn that he saw the dark blue eyes of the man glancing in his direction.

Allen smiled.

It was so rare for a human to be this sharp, especially since he was making sure to conceal himself.

How interesting.

He will go and meet with the man.

He wanted to know more about this strange sword-wielding man.

Allen soundlessly moved, descending the stairs of the mansion to the first floor. The man had paused right outside the gates, seeming to be considering something. Allen positioned himself by the front door, allowing him to get a good look at the man's actions while hiding in the shadows.

He pondered about how to introduce himself to the man.

Allen's appearance was extremely unique after all.

As he was thinking, the man suddenly lifted his sword. With its sheath still on, he raised it high up into the air and then slammed it down on the gate. Allen's eyes widened as the deafening sound of the collision tore through the silence.

This man… Was he perhaps, a little crazy?

The man made to raised his sword again, and Allen found himself opening the front door unconsciously. The man froze as the door slowly creaked open. He shifted a hand to the handle of his sword, prepared to draw it in a moment's notice.

The door opened just enough for Allen to show a silver of himself; the right side of his body. His deformities were all on his left, so he made sure to only let the right side be seen.

"…Can I help you?" Allen asked.

The man glared at him, his eyes scanning Allen from head to toe.

Allen too, was observing the man. His facial features were very pretty, that, Allen couldn't deny. He was a beautiful man indeed, but he carried himself with confidence in his strength, dispelling all notions that this man was nothing more than a pretty face.

And his eyes were what drew Allen in.

Strong, self-reliant and poised, all those could be seen in the man's beautiful eyes.

He was similar to the aristocrats that Allen remembers from a long, long time ago. Similar, but clearly different. Because he held none of the arrogance that those aristocrats had.

What he had was a quiet strength that left Allen in awe.

There was a tensed silence before the man finally spoke.

"Are you the one who lives here?" The man asked. His voice was low, and just a little harsh. But strangely, it didn't sound unpleasant at all.

"Yes, I am." Allen replied.

"The only one who lives here?" The man's eyes narrowed dangerously as he said that.

Allen blinked, immediately feeling cautious.

"Why do you ask? May I know who you are?" Allen returned the man's questions with questions of his own.

The man did not reply.

Another moment of silence and then the man grunted in annoyance. His eyes raised to the third floor, where Allen had been a while ago. Then they shifted back onto Allen.

"…I am a Hunter." The man finally said. "Name's Kanda."

"…Kanda, I see." Allen murmured. He smiled at Kanda. "I'm Allen."

Kanda only responded with an impatient look, as though waiting for Allen to go on speaking.

Allen tilted his head, thinking.

Ah, Kanda did answer his questions, so it was only proper that Allen answered his. But… If what Kanda said was true, that he is a 'Hunter', this would be pretty bad for Allen.

Through the information he gathered from those who he had eaten from, there was an existence called 'Hunters' who take on the tasks of eliminating things that threaten humans. In other words, supernatural beings like Allen are all targets for a Hunter.

He didn't know what it was that makes Hunters different from ordinary humans, but every now and then, his captured prey would scream at him about how the Hunters would aid them in killing the monstrous being Allen was. They would boast about the sublime strength of Hunters, constantly saying that Allen will never be able to win against them.

Allen frowned slightly, his eyes on the sword in Kanda's hands.

Perhaps he could try to find out for himself the strength of these Hunters that the ordinary humans rely on.

Allen smiled at Kanda, saying, "Right now, I am the only one here. When I came upon this place, there was no one here." He lowered his eyes, his smile dropping. Making sure his expression carefully portrayed sufficient sadness and loneliness, he continued, "You see, due to certain reasons, it is difficult for me to live among people."

Those words he said weren't lies at all.

All that is left, is to see how Kanda interpreted them. Would he see Allen as a normal human who is more unfortunate than most, or would he decide that Allen is the being he is after?

"…" Kanda said nothing, only staring fixedly at Allen.

There was the softest snort of irritation before Kanda was climbing over the gates. He landed easily on his feet, staring at Allen as he walked towards the main door.

Allen widened his eyes, purposefully looking shocked at Kanda's actions.

The closer he came, the more Allen was aware of how tall Kanda was.

Kanda paused momentarily before Allen, then he reached forward and pulled the door fully open. The light flooded into the mansion, and Allen's deformities were all in full view.

Kanda's eyes travelled from the scar on his forehead to his arm, lingering just for a short moment.

Allen chose to quickly hide his left arm behind his back after making sure Kanda managed to get a good look, lowering his head shamefully.

Kanda just snorted and said, "I will be staying here for a short while."

"Excuse me?" Allen blinked up at Kanda, confused.

"The being I am after is here, in this mansion, without a doubt. So I will be staying here until I catch it." Kanda gave a brief explanation.

Allen stared at Kanda, dumbfounded.

Kanda moved past him, entering the mansion. He took in the state of the dilapidated mansion fairly quickly, and then turned back to stare at Allen.

His suspicions were as clear as day, but he didn't say anything.

The door slowly creaked shut, plunging them both into sudden darkness for a moment.

"…I see." Allen softly mumbled. "There isn't much here, but if you are alright with that, please stay here."

Kanda turned away, the light of the setting sun streaming in through the broken windows dimly lit the entrance, but it wasn't enough to chase away all the shadows. He walked deeper into the mansion, dark blue eyes glowing bright within the darkness.

He did not look anything like a human at that moment.

Allen only watched on silently as Kanda turned a corner, his usual silver eyes having changed into a pair of eerily glowing red ones.

Allen smiled.

Kanda was an interesting man.

He was staying here to keep an eye on Allen, clearly very suspicious of him.

It's been such a long time since Allen had company, even if it's someone seeking to kill him.

Allen trailed after the path Kanda had taken, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the silent mansion.

A little chuckle slipped past his lips.

Come.

Let's start the game between a vampire and his hunter, shall we?


	4. Suspicions and Treasured Names

x

 **Chapter Four**

Suspicions and Treasured Names

* * *

Barely an hour later, Allen knew that Kanda's suspicions had risen even more.

It was a small mistake on Allen's part. Because he had no need for the facilities of the mansion, he did not bother with fixing them up. Neither did he tidy up all the broken parts littered across the floors.

There was no one around to keep up appearances for in this old mansion anyway.

The mansion's current state right now was in no way hospitable. It didn't look like any ordinary person would actually live here.

But though Kanda clearly noticed this, he had not said a word to Allen.

He did not corner him nor even tried interrogating him. At one point, Kanda did turn around and stared at Allen for a long moment, and seemed to have settled on a decision. He clicked his tongue in annoyance while choosing to ignore Allen from then on.

Allen was curious as to what was going on in Kanda's mind.

Was he waiting for an opportunity to attack Allen? Or was he waiting for some solid evidence before killing him?

Allen was excited, to say the least.

If the rumours of Hunters were true, then perhaps Kanda might actually put up a good fight against him.

With a constant smile on his face, Allen followed after Kanda as he explored the place. The more he smiled, the more Kanda seemed to get annoyed. More than once, Allen had seen Kanda's grip tightening around his sword as he gritted his teeth.

Ah, what fun it was.

Kanda was interesting indeed.

The only time Allen spoke up was to prohibit Kanda from opening the door to the room he took as his own. That would be a little too dangerous, since his coffin was there. Kanda had given Allen a fierce, suspicious glare before moving away from the door.

When the sun finally set and turned the mansion into a world of pure darkness, Allen handed Kanda a rather fancy candleholder containing three candles. They were all lit. Of course, Allen made sure to light his own candles to keep up the act.

"The mansion doesn't have electricity." Allen informed Kanda. "It's been abandoned for a long time, and because it's too costly, I have never done anything about it."

Kanda grunted, not saying anything in return. Returning back to the living room on the third floor, both Allen and Kanda took a rest.

"Kanda."

"What?"

"You can pick any room that is still usable for your own use. You will have to clean it up a bit first though."

Kanda just made a soft noise of acknowledgement, his eyes narrowing as he carefully scrutinized the living room from where he was seated. His eyes stopped on a window – the very window that Allen always stood at – his eyebrows knitting together in a deep frown as he studied it.

Allen silently watched Kanda's actions, tilting his head a little.

The silence between them was tensed and heavy, but no one did anything to break it.

Allen was busy observing Kanda, not concerned with the intimidating frown on his face. He wondered how old Kanda was. To be honest, Kanda did not look any older than twenty. He was constantly frowning and in a foul mood, but on the rare occasions that his face relaxed, he actually looked rather young.

Well, Kanda's age didn't matter much.

After all, Allen's time had been frozen for so long that he couldn't recall his actual age anymore. According to those he drank from, Allen looked to be about sixteen.

About a couple of hours later, Allen stood up and softly announced that he was going to bed. Not that he really was going to sleep, of course. He was just making sure to follow the daily habits of humans by relying on his hazy memories.

He left Kanda as he was, and entered his own room to sit on his coffin, awaiting sunrise.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Their days passed with an odd atmosphere.

They were keenly aware of each other, yet they hardly saw the other party more than three times a day. Sometimes, they wouldn't even meet.

Allen didn't mind at first, because it gave him time to get used to Kanda's presence.

Kanda woke up early in the mornings, when the sun had yet to rise. There were times where Allen would quietly watch Kanda sit on the windowsill, at the very window Allen usually stayed at.

Kanda would look outside from that position, relaxing against the window with his sword resting on his shoulder. He would stay there until the sky lightened and turned blue.

As Allen gazed at the motionless Kanda, he noticed that the atmosphere around the man seem to freeze. It wasn't painfully cold, rather, it took on an ethereal-like quality. It was so much so that Allen couldn't bring himself to intrude upon it.

All he could do, was silently watch on.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Allen meticulously counted the days that passed, and once it reached past a week and a half of living together with Kanda, his boredom exploded.

Kanda was way too antisocial, though Allen didn't have the right to say that. But he really was bored. At this rate, Allen's efforts would all go to waste. So he chose to seek out Kanda, but even after travelling from the first to third floors twice, he was still unable to catch him.

When Allen was up at the third floor, he saw Kanda down on the first floor, and vice versa.

Was Kanda avoiding him on purpose?

Annoyed, he ambushed Kanda late at night in the living room on the third floor.

Kanda had welcomed his presence with his unsheathed sword pointed at his throat. Upon realising that it was Allen, Kanda harshly clicked his tongue and softly uttered, "Damn Moyashi."

"Moyashi? My name's Allen!" Allen snapped back, glaring at Kanda.

Kanda snorted, simply turning around to walk away.

Allen did not stop him, blinking as Kanda vanished down the dark hallways.

He smiled.

Swallowing, he ran his tongue over his fangs. There was a persistent itch in his throat, and the slightest rumble of his stomach. Being near Kanda increased his hunger for blood, but Allen didn't mind it.

He made sure to keep himself in check, so that he won't end up devouring Kanda. It wasn't yet time.

Because things have finally gotten more interesting.

* * *

From that day onwards, Allen took to harassing Kanda. The more Allen talked to him, the more Kanda sent death glares his way while avoiding him. Allen wasn't always successful, but he would still strive to get some information out of Kanda.

"Kanda."

"What?"

"Where are you from?"

"Hah?" Kanda narrowed his eyes at Allen, shooting him a glare that seemed to be completely ineffective.

"Where are you from?" Allen repeated his question. "Judging from your looks… You are Japanese, aren't you?"

"That's none of your business."

Allen frowned a little. "Then, are you the only Hunter here? Are there other Hunters around here?"

Kanda gripped his sword that was hanging by his side, clearly annoyed at Allen. But to Allen's surprise, Kanda actually responded well.

"I'm the only one here." Kanda muttered. "But there are other Hunters who come and go as they please."

Allen blinked. "Is that so?"

He observed Kanda's tensed posture, watching the way the wind blowing in from the window softly brushed the hair away from Kanda's frowning face.

"Kanda."

Kanda glanced over at Allen.

"Why have you come here?" Allen quietly asked. "Were you requested by the people in the towns?"

Kanda shifted his gaze away from Allen, looking out the window.

"Yes. There have been too many people going missing around here over these few years. And most of them were on their way towards this mansion. They usually moved in pairs, but none of them returned."

"These past few years? How many years has it been since this problem started?" Allen asked.

"You don't know?" Kanda raised an eyebrow at Allen.

Allen shook his head. "It has been a long time since I've come into contact with other humans. Because of my circumstances, I have always kept to myself."

Kanda huffed softly after hearing Allen's explanation. He said, "It's almost five years."

"Five years? Then why are they only sending you out now?"

"It has always been irregular, about one or two people going missing per year. Most assumed that those people simply got lost in the forest, so where wasn't much of a fuss. But this year alone, there have been more than ten. So I was asked to help."

Allen hummed. "But then, how do you know for sure that the being you are after is the one doing this?"

"The townspeople claim that a man-eating monster lives here, consuming those that enter its lair."

Allen tilted his head, and slowly blinked.

"Then, Kanda, do you believe in the words of the townspeople?"

Kanda grunted, saying, "I believe in what I see."

Allen chuckled. "Is that so?"

He turned his head, silver eyes staring up into the blue sky he could see from the open window.

"Say, Kanda."

"What, Moyashi?"

"It's Allen!" He growled, then asked, "What's your name, Kanda?"

"Ha?" Kanda stared at Allen like he couldn't believe what he just heard.

Allen smiled. "Your full name, I mean."

Kanda snorted, whipping his head to the side to avoid looking at Allen any more than necessary. "None of your business."

Allen frowned. "Come on, just tell me, Kanda."

Kanda did not respond, eyes fixed at a point in the far distance.

"Kandaaa."

"Hey, Kanda. Tell me."

"Kaaa-n-daaa!"

"Kanda, Kanda, Kanda –"

"Shut up, you damn Moyashi!"

"It's Allen! Allen Walker!"

Kanda glared at Allen, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Allen only happily returned the glare with a smile.

"Just tell me already, won't you?"

Kanda's face contorted, gritting his teeth as he sent Allen a vicious death glare. Neither Allen nor Kanda faltered for long moments, until finally, Kanda actually gave in.

He snarled, mumbling out in a barely there voice, "Yuu."

Allen's eyes widened, and he blinked at Kanda in shock. He really wasn't expecting that at all. He was more certain that Kanda would have hacked him down with his sword than to tell Allen anything.

"…Kanda Yuu. …Yuu. " Allen murmured to himself.

"I may have told you, but don't you dare call me by my first name, Moyashi!" Kanda growled, pointing his sword at Allen.

The threat of what he would do if Allen ever tried to call him in such a way was clear enough. Allen's eyes travelled across the length of the sword's blade, up till he was looking at Kanda. Kanda was glowering at him with fierce eyes, ready to slice him up at any moment.

Allen grinned, wide and happy.

"Thanks for telling me, Kanda."

Kanda's lips curled in irritation, pulling back his sword as he turned away. His footsteps softly echoed as he strode around the couch, planning to use the other set of stairs to get down to the first floor. He wouldn't have to walk past that white-haired kid that way.

"Kanda."

He stopped.

"What will you do when you find the 'monster'?"

Kanda snorted, choosing to ignore that. He only took two steps before Allen's voice came again.

"Will you kill it?"

Kanda turned to look over his shoulder, studying the expressionless Allen. Those empty silver eyes met Kanda's strong gaze.

"I will."

He turned back and continued walking, feeling Allen's gaze on his back all the while.


	5. Hunter

**A/N:**

 **To MustacheOn:** Nah, those three men from chapter two holds no significance. They were just prey for Allen.

 **To Ryuakilover:** Hm, I don't want to give any spoilers for the future chapters so I will only say this: It's not that I've forgotten about little things like that, it's just that it's not appropriate to reveal them now. In due time, everything will be addressed.

 **To all my readers:**

I do not plan to have this become a drawn-out story, so I want to wrap everything up in about ten chapters.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

Hunter

* * *

Allen lightly landed on the rooftop of his mansion.

The moonlight shone down on him, casting a soft glow around him.

He sighed softly as he sat down, leaning back on his arms as he gazed at the moon. There were a lot of stars out tonight.

His throat was burning, a pain that would not go away unless he drank blood. To put it simply, he was hungry.

There was a soft rustle of cloth, and Allen shifted to look down at where the noise came from.

Kanda was making his way into the forest.

Oh? Looks like Kanda was having difficulties falling asleep. Usually, he would have been sleeping soundly by this time.

Kanda settled himself down on the forest floor, not too far away from the mansion, and not too deep within the forest either. His sword was placed carefully beside him. He crossed his legs, and sat up straight.

And then he closed his eyes and began to take deep breaths.

Allen blinked. He had seen this before. This was meditation, wasn't it? Kanda was meditating… Allen tilted his head. Why didn't Kanda do this in his room instead? The forest was completely dark, except for the moonlight tricking through the tree leaves.

Wasn't Kanda afraid?

Normal humans would be, because all sorts of things lurk in the forest at night.

Allen hummed, never taking his eyes off Kanda.

He stared, eyes roaming over Kanda's lithe form. Long black hair that looked to be as soft as silk was tied up into a loose ponytail, gently falling over one shoulder. His black coat was left open, revealing his bare torso. Each dip and curve was clearly defined, showing off a muscular body that told of years of dedicated training.

There was a strange mark on his chest, almost like a tattoo, but Allen couldn't see it well since more than half of it was covered by Kanda's coat.

Allen's gaze focused on Kanda's pale neck, where he could see each throb of blood flowing through that body in a hypnotising rhythm.

Unconsciously, his mouth opened, and his fangs grew out.

Ahh, thirsty.

So thirsty.

Kanda was full of vitality… Surely, surely he would taste wonderful.

Allen really, really wanted to sink his fangs into Kanda's neck right now. He stood up, red eyes fixed on Kanda's still figure.

Just a little is fine, isn't it?

Just a little…

Allen's foot slipped on a brick on the roof, startling him. He stumbled, barely catching himself in time.

Kanda had shot to his feet, sword drawn as he glared up at the rooftop.

Allen blinked once, twice, and softly let out a relieved sigh.

He lifted his gaze to meet Kanda's eyes.

His fangs had retracted and he was sure his eyes had returned to their usual silver.

…That was dangerous.

He almost lost himself to his hunger. He would have killed Kanda if he had fed off him like this.

Allen jumped down from the rooftop, on the other side of the mansion. As he rounded the mansion to enter from the front door, Kanda was there. His unsheathed sword was still held firmly in his grip.

His dark blue eyes stared at Allen with unconcealed suspicion, and Allen returned the look with a simple smile and a slight bow of his head to acknowledge his presence.

Kanda didn't stop him from entering the mansion, though his eyes followed Allen until he couldn't be seen anymore.

Kanda turned around, his long ponytail fluttering in the gentle breeze as he returned to meditate again.

Unseen by Kanda, Allen frowned as he made his way towards his room.

He would have to gain better control of himself to avoid something like this from happening again.

* * *

x

* * *

Allen had been living with Kanda for a while now.

The first time they met was in early autumn, and now it was winter.

Allen carefully seated himself on the windowsill, his legs neatly hanging down with the tip of his shoes just slightly brushing against the old floor of the mansion.

The window remained wide open as he gazed into the far distant town. This was a scene he had seen many, many times before, where the world was covered with a beautiful white blanket of snow.

The information Kanda gave him actually unsettled him a little. Even after going to sleep for a period of time, it seems that humans were still going missing. It was obvious now, there had to be something else out there.

In the distance, Allen watch a group of four men hack down a tree for firewood. The trees in the forest were exceptionally large, so a single tree was enough to provide sufficient firewood for a few homes.

They gathered up their firewood once they were done, heading back to their houses.

A movement below caught his eye.

Allen tilted his head down, his eyes following Kanda's every move.

Perhaps Kanda was aware that Allen was watching, but he never turned back to look. He jumped over the gates, the crunch of freshly fallen snow being trodden on accompanying him all the way. He stopped about a quarter into the forest, drawing his sword.

And began his imaginary practice.

The piercing sound of metal slicing through the air resounded clearly throughout the forest. The way Kanda wielded his sword was unlike any other average swordsman. Each swing of his sword was exceptionally fast, to the point where he left behind a wake of illusionary slashes. Soon enough, sweat began to form and trickle down his face.

Allen silently watched as Kanda trained. He has seen him train many times, but to think that Kanda wouldn't rest even in the dead of winter…

Allen's attention was diverted when the same group of men suddenly returned.

What were they doing? Why did they suddenly return?

The snow this year wasn't heavy, making it easier for the humans to walk. They made their way towards the mansion with surprising speed.

Allen blinked. Oh? Perhaps, those men wanted to do something 'heroic'? Something like 'catching the monster in the mansion'? They tightly gripped their axes as they all had on similar expressions of determination.

But after years of watching humans, Allen could see the hint of fear in their eyes. They moved close to each other, with barely an arm's length between them.

Allen huffed softly.

Did they think that as long as they were in a group, they had nothing to fear? Does the fact that they have more people with them provide them with assurance? What fools they are.

Having more people in one group only means more for the 'monster' to kill. Did they not think that moving in a group actually means to sacrifice your own friends? Sacrificing someone they know to the monster so that they can spare their own lives.

Allen stared down at the humans with cold eyes.

He did not kill, but he can't say the same for other supernatural creatures. If the one they were approaching was not Allen but some other creature, perhaps all of them would have died before they could even think to run.

The group of humans finally reached the gates of the mansion, looking around warily. One of them pointed out the foot tracks in the snow, and as one, four pairs of eyes followed the trail.

And at the end of the trail, stood a single person who was watching them silently: Kanda.

They immediately froze upon noticing Kanda.

Allen watched, amused as they screamed in fear. They pointed their fingers at Kanda, shouting out, 'monster!'

Kanda didn't reply, only coldly watching their antics.

Allen tilted his head, observing the scene down below.

Why did they think that Kanda was a monster? Kanda looked completely human, a pretty one at that. He would understand if they yelled 'monster' upon laying their eyes on Allen, since his appearance was certainly very strange.

…Did their fear overpower their logic?

Kanda remained as still as a statue, only shifting slightly when the humans raised their axes, prepared for a fight. One of them even threw their axe at Kanda, unsuccessful as he easily dodged the axe flying towards him.

Kanda approached them, his sword in hand.

The group of men trembled, shivering fearfully as Kanda steadily came closer. One by one, they fell backwards onto their butts.

Allen chuckled. Kanda can be pretty intimidating, he knew that. But they had no need to fear Kanda so, because Kanda wasn't the monster they were after.

Kanda stopped before the fallen men, glaring down at them.

Then he opened his mouth, and said only one sentence, "I am a Hunter."

The four men blinked, confused.

There was a long pause, and then Kanda continued, "This mansion is off limits, because I am now hunting down the monster who is said to reside here. Do not interfere with my job right now, or I will personally slice all of you up."

A beat or two later, the men scrambled to their feet, bowing respectfully to Kanda.

Apologies spilled from their lips, asking for pardon.

One man raised his head, wide eyes gazing at Kanda. He gasped reverently, and said, "A Hunter… One who is loved by the gods. With strength surpassing us ordinary humans, and power that even brings supernatural beings to their knees. On top of that, they wield extraordinary weapons." The man's eyes shifted down to Kanda's sword.

All four men clasped their hands before their chest and bowed. "Oh gifted one, we beseech you to hear our plea."

Deep furrows appeared between his brows as Kanda gritted his teeth in irritation, though he did not say anything.

Allen, on the other hand, was about to die from laughter. He slapped a hand over his mouth, muffling any sound.

The men were undeterred by Kanda's silence, continuing to speak, "Please do away with the monster within the abandoned mansion. Too many of us have been lost. Kill that hideous being so that we can all live in peace once more!"

Kanda swung his sword in front of him, the light glinting off the blade ominously. "I've already said that I'm working on it. Now, hurry up and scram!"

The four men flinched, quickly bowing once more before doing as Kanda ordered.

Kanda scowled at them as the men ran away.

With an annoyed click of his tongue, Kanda walked back to his original spot, raising his head to look at Allen as he did so. He didn't speak, only narrowing his eyes.

Allen met his eyes without flinching.

Kanda exhaled, his breath coming out in little wisps of smoke in the cold air. He turned away, resuming his sword training.

Allen pulled one leg up towards him, resting his chin on his knee as he distractedly watched Kanda train while thinking.

Allen and Kanda, they don't interfere with each other, an unspoken agreement settling between them just hours after their first meeting. Allen never questions Kanda's actions, even when he disappears for long periods of time without a word. Because no matter what, as long as Kanda was still seeking out the monster within the mansion, he would surely return.

Through their own silent observations of each other, tons of questions had formed. Allen was brimming with curiosity, and he was sure that Kanda was too.

But no one made that step forward to ask.

Allen sighed.

It has been on his mind for a while, though he never mentioned anything to Kanda.

He suspected that perhaps, Kanda may not be human.

Just like he was, Kanda seemed completely oblivious to the cold, and not once did Allen see Kanda light a fire for warmth. Every now and then, Allen did see Kanda cooking the prey he had caught, but Kanda had never used fire for anything else.

Allen didn't think that Kanda was a vampire like he was, but he was surely not a normal human.

Were all Hunters like this?

Or was Kanda special?

If that was the case, then what should Allen do?

Kill him? Kill Kanda right away?

Kill him before Allen becomes a hunted prey?

Allen frowned, another sigh spilling from his lips.

Maybe he should try talking to Kanda.

* * *

"Moyashi. Just what are you doing?"

Kanda glared at Allen, who had been following him around ever since he came back from training in the forest. It was nearly night now, and Kanda felt that he deserved a reward for his patience in tolerating the white-haired brat following him around for the past two hours.

A small part of him wondered why he had even bothered to silently endure it for so long, but he quickly shoved that part of him down and focused on the beansprout in front of him.

Allen blinked, looking mildly surprised at suddenly being addressed.

He fidgeted slightly, scratching his cheek uncomfortably.

Kanda scowled, his irritation growing by the second as Allen looked down at his feet silently.

"Tch." Kanda spun around, ignoring Allen and choosing to get as far away as he could. But he was sharply pulled back by a hand yanking on his shirt.

"You…!" Kanda growled out, about ready to just slice Allen into half right now.

"Kanda."

Allen looked up at him, his gaze heavy and serious.

"Kanda, can we talk for a bit?"


	6. Blood

x

* * *

 **Chapter Six**

Blood

* * *

Allen lowered his head, staring at the floor.

Kanda was seated opposite him in the living room, his bad mood steadily growing worse. Allen knew that Kanda was barely keeping himself from slicing him apart. But Allen had a lot to think about.

In his head, countless scenarios of Kanda attacking him after he opened his mouth to ask constantly dominated everything else.

Allen softly groaned, unsure of how it bring it up.

Kanda shifted then, throwing his coat over the couch as his hand moved to his sword. He tightened his grip around the hilt, and began to slowly pull it out.

Allen flinched, jumping up.

"Kanda!"

Kanda growled in reply, his predatory gaze fixed on Allen. The hand drawing his sword out never ceased.

"Kanda, wait, wait! I have a question I want to ask!"

With difficulty, Kanda stopped. Then he spat out, "What?"

"That is… Uh… I've been wondering…"

"Spit it out, Moyashi. Or I will cut you down right here, right now."

Allen tensed up, preparing himself to run.

Opening his mouth, he asked, "Kanda, are you human?"

Kanda seemed to freeze, not moving an inch. And Allen didn't dare move either.

Finally, Kanda said, "Why?"

Allen blinked.

"Huh?"

"Why do you think that?"

"Uh. Well, you don't seem to be like ordinary humans?" Allen tentatively gave a reason.

"Why?" Kanda asked again.

"You don't react to the cold at all?" Allen replied, though it was more of a question than an actual statement.

Kanda fell silent.

And then he raised his head, staring straight into Allen's eyes.

"You're right. I'm different from an ordinary human." Kanda said, confirming Allen's words. He stood up then, drawing his sword and pressing the sharp tip of the blade into Allen's neck. "But so are you."

Allen's eyes widened. "…What?"

Kanda smirked, his sword making the softest _clink_ as he tilted it.

"You think I haven't noticed? You sit by the windowsill, completely unaffected by the cold. And also, I have never seen you eat nor drink anything since the day I came here."

Kanda glared down at him. "You are the monster that's living here, aren't you?"

Allen stared blankly at Kanda.

Kanda shifted his sword, pressing it deeper against Allen's throat.

His dark blue eyes glowed brightly as he stared into silver ones.

And then Allen smiled.

With a little sigh, he said, "You found out, I see."

Allen stood up as well, completely unconcerned as the sword sliced into his skin as he moved since it was just a light graze. Kanda was much taller than him, but that didn't matter to Allen.

"You are not entirely wrong about me being a monster, though that's not the total truth either. But it's alright, I don't mind it even if you misunderstand."

"Misunderstand?" Kanda repeated.

"Mm." Allen nodded.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kanda growled.

Allen only shook his head, not answering his question. Instead, he grinned up at Kanda, stepping closer. With skilful manipulation of words, Allen guided the flow of their conversation into a different direction.

"Since you found out, I have no choice now. You're correct about the fact that I've not eaten anything since you came, which is why right now, I am very hungry."

Allen chuckled as Kanda tightened his grip on his sword, snarling at him.

"Kanda, I'm hungry. Won't you let me eat you?"

"As if. I will cut you down where you are, you monster."

"Oh, really?"

Allen sighed, looking wistful even as blood trickled down his neck from where the sword had cut into his skin. "To be honest, I had fun during this short time with you, Kanda. It's been a really long time since I've had such interesting company. It's too bad that it ends this early."

Allen suddenly moved, lashing out with his left hand to attack Kanda.

Kanda jumped back with impressive speed, bringing his sword down to slash at Allen. Allen turned, grabbing the sword with his left hand. Kanda's eyes widened when he realised that his attack was stopped, but he recovered fast, pulling his sword out of Allen's hand.

Allen had to release his left hand's grip to spare it from getting sliced into half.

Allen chuckled lightly.

"You're strong, Kanda."

"Shut up." Kanda hissed, attacking Allen once more.

They exchanged blows with rapid speed, knocking over the old furniture without a care. Kanda's sword was often stopped by Allen's left hand, though Allen's attacks were also stopped by Kanda's expert wielding of his sword. Like this, they were locked in a stalemate.

Little cuts did appear on Allen here and there, but the same thing happened to Kanda as well.

Allen had morphed the fingers of his left hand into scalpels, the skin along his arm smoothing out and bearing a resemblance close to metal as he did so. It was an ability he discovered he had many years ago. But humans were too weak, so he never had to use this ability.

Kanda was different though.

Kanda was strong, and if Allen's didn't use this ability, he was sure his hand would have been chopped off long ago.

He grunted as Kanda's sword came crashing down on him, having to raise his left arm to block it. A resounding _clang_ rang out as the sword made contact with his arm.

Kanda glared at him as he pressed his sword down harder. Allen swiped his arm out from under the sword, managing to cut Kanda's cheek as he repelled the attack. Kanda pushed himself away from Allen, landing lightly on his feet a distance away.

Allen smiled as he launched himself at Kanda.

His judgement of Kanda was right back then. Kanda was proving to be a tough fight. He moved with the ease of an experienced swordsman, each attack bearing strong power behind it. His reflexes were even on par with Allen's, and that itself was quite a feat.

Allen was a supernatural being after all. He was made to be strong, to hunt down humans for his food. Allen did not know what Kanda was though.

That pair of glowing blue eyes alone was enough to let anyone notice that Kanda wasn't human.

Kanda's footwork was light, his body flowing through each move with fluid grace. Swift and agile, not a single unnecessary movement. A well-aimed slash that Allen was just a tad too slow to dodge caused a long, and rather deep wound across his torso.

Allen only smiled as he received the injury.

Truly, Kanda was strong.

But still, Allen was a predator of the humans. No matter how inhuman Kanda may be, as long as he still had the form of a human, this fight belongs to Allen.

Allen dodge the next swing of Kanda's sword, twisting his body around in seemingly impossible angles to knock the sword away.

After a short but fierce round of hand-to-hand combat, Allen finally had Kanda pinned underneath him, the scalpels of his left hand pressed against his throat in warning.

Allen chuckled. For the first time since he had become a vampire, he was actually able to feel exhaustion. It was an odd sensation indeed, because his heart didn't beat. He grinned down at Kanda – who was glaring at him, chest heaving with laboured breaths.

"You really are interesting, Kanda." Allen murmured, awed.

Kanda snarled, not saying a word even though his eyes were alight with a blazing fury.

Allen had to concentrate hard to hold down the struggling Kanda.

If he were to have even the slightest lapse of attention, Kanda would surely free himself and slice him into half the next second.

Looking into those glowing blue eyes, Allen laughed lightly.

In the next moment, his silver eyes shifted into a bloody red.

He extended his fangs, letting Kanda take a good look.

"Kanda," Allen softly said, "I am a vampire. I live on the blood of others. I do not consume flesh."

With that, Allen lowered his head, moving his left hand enough to bare Kanda's neck.

Kanda tensed up, but before he could attempt to do any more, Allen sank his fangs into Kanda's neck. He distantly heard Kanda hiss in pain, but he was more preoccupied with drinking down the blood.

Kanda tasted very different from the ordinary humans.

Very, very different.

His blood was astonishingly thick, and the smoothest that Allen had ever tasted, sliding down his parched throat with ease. A sweet aftertaste bloomed on his tongue with every swallow.

It was highly addictive.

Delightfully exquisite.

Blind to his surroundings, Allen drank down the blood eagerly.

It was only when the flow of blood slowed that Allen came back to his senses. Immediately, he yanked his fangs out of Kanda's neck, wide eyes taking in Kanda's pale face.

Kanda had closed his eyes, safe to say that he had fainted.

Allen hurriedly rested a hand on Kanda's chest, feeling for his heartbeat. He had never been so glad that he himself did not have one, which made it much easier for Allen to pick up the slightest movement.

It was faint, but there was still a heartbeat.

Allen brought his head close to Kanda's chest, where he could hear Kanda's ragged breathing.

He sighed as relief flooded through his veins. Allen leaned forward, running his tongue over the puncture wounds on Kanda's neck, carefully closing them. After that, he cleaned up the blood that overflowed from the wound, as well as the blood that had trickled down his chin. Kanda's blood was too precious to waste, after all.

Once done, he stood up.

Unexpectedly, Allen swayed and lost his footing, crashing backwards onto the floor.

He blinked.

What was that?

Pushing himself back up slowly, Allen attempted to stand again. To his horror, his body swayed and refused to listen to him. His trembling legs gave out, and he flopped down onto the floor, dazed.

His head went light, making him dizzy and unable to concentrate.

What was happening?

He couldn't stand up?

Why…?

He was fine not too long ago.

He supported his weak body with his hands, barely avoiding falling head-first to the floor. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to regain himself.

He did not know how long he remained like that, but eventually the spinning in his head settled down somewhat.

Allen opened up his eyes, shifting his gaze from the dusty floor to stare at Kanda's unconscious form.

…It couldn't be, right?

He didn't feel that his life was in danger earlier, but that experience was still extremely unpleasant.

Maybe, just maybe, this was because of Kanda's blood?

Was he, perhaps, _drunk?_

Drunk from Kanda's blood.

Allen blinked, stunned.

He let himself fall backwards onto the ground with a _thump_ , softly groaning as he brought a hand to cover his eyes.

Well, shit.

* * *

x

* * *

Allen was harshly awakened by the sunlight streaming in through the window.

When had he fallen asleep?

Allen shot up from the ground, whipping his head left and right, searching.

Kanda was still lying in the same position as yesterday. His complexion was much better now, though he was still considerably pale.

Allen carefully stood up, satisfied when he didn't stumble.

He approached Kanda, listening for his heartbeat.

Good, it was stronger than before.

Allen rested his hand on Kanda's forehead, attempting to modify his memories. It would take too much strength to remove all memories of their encounter, so he simply changed the outcome of their fight.

'Kanda managed to kill Allen successfully', that was what Allen implanted into his head.

Removing his hand, Allen stared at Kanda. His shirt was torn with a slash running through the chest area, showing just a hint of the tattoo that Allen had a glance of before. Curious, he tugged the shirt up, freezing as the mark was finally exposed.

Unconsciously, he found himself gently tracing the tattoo with his finger. How strange. Kanda didn't seem to be the type of person concerned with such things like marking the body for decorative purposes, at least, that's the impression Allen had.

He softly hummed, smoothing down the shirt. Searching around, he spotted Kanda's coat that had fallen not too far away.

Cautiously manipulating Kanda's limp body, he slipped the coat on, making sure to arrange it neatly.

Allen fell still after that, eyes narrowing as he thought.

He shifted his head to look out the window, into the forest.

The being that was devouring humans was out there somewhere. He didn't know who or what it was, and he couldn't bring himself to care. Humans… Allen hated them, but at the same time, he loved them. But with him being a supernatural creature, getting involved with humans never led to anything good.

So even if the humans had to live in fear for the rest of their lives, Allen was not going to help them.

As long as he wasn't involved in this mysterious incident in any way, it didn't matter to him. Let the humans spread their lies and rumours all they want.

Besides, that human-devouring monster never once tried to do any harm to Allen. Like the way the weak avoided the strong, perhaps the monster could sense that Allen was someone that it couldn't win against?

Allen chuckled, though his eyes were cold and devoid of emotions.

Bringing his gaze back onto Kanda, Allen moved. With a soft exhale of effort, he lifted Kanda over his shoulder, making sure to pick up his sword as well.

As always, Allen deposited Kanda at the same place he would throw his victims. He carefully placed the sword in Kanda's hand, and then paused to blink down at the still unconscious Kanda. It was in the middle of winter, but he was sure Kanda would be fine.

This was the only area of the forest that couldn't be seen from Allen's mansion, because watching his prey run away from him would only incite his predatory instincts. If he didn't do this, he would have surely gone on a killing spree and truly become the monsters in the humans' rumours.

Taking one last glance at Kanda, Allen silently returned back to the mansion.


	7. Kanda

x

 **Chapter Seven**

Kanda

* * *

Kanda stirred awake sluggishly.

Blinking open his eyes, he blankly took in the dark skies above him.

…Skies?

At once, he shot up from the ground, looking around.

Where was he? A forest? How did he get here?

But before Kanda could think about it, there was rustling coming from between the trees. Kanda narrowed his eyes, thankful that he still had his sword in his hands. Drawing it, Kanda tensed up as he stared into the darkness.

At least a dozen pairs of yellow eyes stared back at him from between the trees.

A streak of gray shot out from the darkness; a wolf.

An unnaturally large wolf.

That lone wolf was soon joined by an entire pack of large wolves. They snarled and growled, appearing somewhat hesitant to attack.

But then the largest wolf, perhaps the leader of the pack, launched itself at Kanda.

Kanda quickly sheathed his sword, using the scabbard to attack it.

The large wolf deftly avoided the sword, spinning its body around and lunging at Kanda from the back. It was surprisingly fast, even managing to nick Kanda's coat. Still, an animal was only an animal. Kanda jumped backwards, over the wolf, delivering a blow to its head.

The wolf was sent tumbling back, slamming into the snow-covered ground.

Somehow, the wolf stood up again. It shook its body, ridding itself of the snow covering its pelt. It raised its muzzle, and released a piercing howl.

The rest of the waiting wolves finally moved, dashing towards Kanda. Their lips curled up, baring dangerously sharp teeth as they snapped their jaws threateningly.

At first, Kanda tried to deal as little damage as possible, just rendering them unconscious. But the wolves were the strangest wolves Kanda had ever come across, because no matter how hard he struck at them, they never fell.

And Kanda was by no means weak.

Attacks that must have surely broken their bones didn't even register, the wolves continuously launching themselves at Kanda. The forest was filled with the vicious snarling of the wolves as they tried over and over to tear him apart.

In the end, Kanda had no choice but to kill them all.

The forest came deadly still once more, and Kanda cleaned his bloodied sword with the snow. Securing his sword back to his side, he looked around again.

With a frown, he tried to recall how he had managed to get here.

His eyes widened in realisation.

Oh, that's right.

That white-haired kid was the monster he was after. After a tiring fight, he had eventually managed to kill him. Kanda grunted. But it was strange how he couldn't remember how he got to this part of the forest.

And also, why was he wearing his coat? He clearly remembered dumping it over the sofa before the fight with that beansprout. Had he somehow slip it on and then left for the forest?

…No.

No.

Something was wrong.

There were strange, large gaps of missing memories in his head.

This wasn't normal. Something must have happened, something that he was unaware of.

…But what?

His chest throbbed then, the pain increasing by the second.

Kanda hissed, falling to his knees as his legs gave out abruptly. He yanked open his cloak, pulling down his shirt to look at his chest. More precisely, the tattoo on his chest.

He was born with this strange tattoo on him, but he still did not know what it truly meant.

The doctors at the place where he was born had rejoiced upon seeing the tattoo, constantly going on and on about how it was a 'success'. Though they called themselves doctors, they looked more like scientists. The place Kanda was born in was no hospital, but instead, it was a laboratory.

They forced Kanda to undergo various painful experiments, even going so far as to cut his limbs off to watch them regenerate. But between those experiments, Kanda was also given education. They taught him how to read, how to speak, and how to fight.

Kanda grew up there.

Even if he didn't like it, it was the only place he knew.

But then one day, a man that Kanda had never seen before entered laboratory, and slaughtered everyone there. That man had long black hair that reached to his waist, dressed in form-fitting clothes and a robe befitting an aristocrat. It may have been a vampire, or it may have been a werewolf, Kanda didn't know.

The only thing that stood out to him was the way the man had taken a single glance at him, and then turned away and disappeared. That was the last time he had seen that supernatural being.

Amidst the massacre around him, Kanda was the only one left alive.

There was nothing there anymore, everything was destroyed by that man. So Kanda picked up the sword that the scientists gave to him, and left that place.

He had looked back once, just quietly watching as the laboratory went up in flames, leaving behind nothing but scorched earth and choking ashes.

He never did find out about what he was exactly, or what it was that the scientists were trying to do.

And there was no way for him to ask anymore.

Even so, Kanda wasn't concerned. Whatever he was, it didn't matter anyway. With his strength and power that was clearly different from ordinary humans, Kanda designated himself as a Hunter, though he never did go through the formal procedures.

He refused to join the Hunter Organisation that he knew existed, choosing to live without any affiliations instead.

The townspeople did not mind it either, always seeking him out for help.

Perhaps the tattoo on him may be a curse of sorts, but he didn't care about that. He only knew that it had helped him multiple times, with its frightening regenerative properties. No matter how deep or severe the wound, it all healed within a day or two.

And now, that very tattoo was causing him pain.

His head was hurting, resonating with the tattoo.

But why was his head hurting?

Did he receive an internal injury he was unaware of?

Kanda squeezed his eyes shut, gripping his head. His breaths came out in harsh, painful gasps.

Scenes flickered passed his mind, from his meeting with the white-haired monster to the very last fight. But there was something wrong. His memories of the last fight were turning hazy, blurring together, and becoming a mess of colours.

…What?

What is this?

" _Kanda, I am a vampire. I live on the blood of others. I do not consume flesh."_

Kanda's eyes snapped open.

The pain eased, retreating like nothing happened.

…That bastard beansprout.

He bit him, drank his blood.

And tempered with his mind!

Kanda pushed himself to his feet. He growled, whipping his head around to seek out the old mansion.

"…You damned moyashi." Kanda snarled.

" _I do not consume flesh."_

Kanda paused, turning around to stare at the remaining mess of the wolves he had sliced up.

He snorted, trudging back towards the mansion.

He would just have to get the answers he wanted out of that white-haired kid.

* * *

x

* * *

Allen sighed, sitting on the lid of his closed coffin.

Ever since he drank Kanda's blood, his body had been extremely restless. His power tossed and turned within him, unable to settle down.

There were times where the fingers of his left hand would morphed without warning. It was annoying, but at least that did the least harm. After destroying a part of the basement in an accidental, uncontrollable release of his power, Allen had taken to shutting himself away in his room.

The reason why he chose this room out of all the others in the mansion was because of the paper charms stuck on the walls.

He didn't know what they were for or how to use them, the only thing he knew is that his vampire side tended to be suppressed whenever he entered the room. The moment he stepped in, his morphed hand returned to normal.

Perhaps this room was used as some kind of containing room for supernatural beings.

But Allen wasn't afraid since it actually helped him.

He wouldn't have to worry about destroying the mansion as long as he was in here.

He sighed again, wistfully staring at his feet.

How long would he have to stay in here before his body returned to normal? Until he became hungry once more?

Allen frowned.

That was going to take quite a while, since he pretty much half-killed Kanda by draining him of his blood. He had no intentions of drinking that much, but he could no longer control himself the moment Kanda's blood hit his tongue.

He did not know how Kanda was still alive though.

Any other ordinary human would have died long ago.

Was it because he was a 'Hunter'? Were all Hunters like this? Allen did not even aid Kanda in his recovery process, and there was no blood transfusion at all.

And there was also the matter of the ridiculously fast speed at which the slash wound that Allen received healed. His vampire body naturally healed his injuries much quicker than normal humans, but this time, it was not because of his own abilities.

It was because of Kanda's blood.

Allen lifted a hand, fingers sliding over his shirt at where the wound was.

Or should have been.

After drinking Kanda's blood, the wounds on his body healed over completely in a couple of hours. There wasn't even a scar left behind.

Could Kanda's blood have contained regenerative properties?

That was the only explanation he could think of.

"…What a strange man you are, Kanda." Allen mumbled.

He lightly traced the top of his coffin, fingers aimlessly running across the surface.

Perhaps he should sleep.

If he were to sleep, his body should slowly start to settle down over the years.

Allen hummed thoughtfully, but he did not move.

He remained motionless until night fell.

And then there came the distant sound of footsteps.

Very familiar footsteps.


	8. Explanations and Decisions

**A/N:**

Thank you for all your sweet reviews! They cheered me up and made me smile even as my real life isn't going quite so well.

Enjoy :)

* * *

 **Chapter Eight**

Explanations and Decisions

* * *

Kanda kicked open the front door, barging in to the mansion.

He paused momentarily, wondering if he should head down to the basement or make his way up.

"Tch."

After a short moment of deliberation, Kanda clicked his tongue as he stomped up the stairs. He swept through the second floor with rapid speed, finding no one there.

Next, he went up another floor.

The living room where Allen usually stayed was empty. He turned down the hallway, kicking open room doors. Four doors later, he realised it was quite a stupid move on his part. There were way too many doors to inspect one by one.

So he stopped, standing still where he was as he tried to recall the way to the room Allen had claimed as his own.

Down the hallway, past the old flight of stairs, at the furthest corner.

An off white door – the only door with a different colour – nestled right at the end.

Kanda reached out for the door knob that was somehow still working, mostly likely fixed by Allen.

But the door abruptly swung inwards before he could, and there he was, standing in the doorway and gaping at Kanda like a fish.

Allen Walker.

Kanda's eyes met Allen's surprised ones, and then he was drawing his sword the next second.

Allen's hands shot up in surrender just as Kanda stopped his blade's trajectory an inch away from Allen's face, right between his eyes.

"…K-Kanda?" Allen was the first to speak, stuttering out Kanda's name in shock.

"…Idiot beansprout!" Kanda growled out, not moving.

Allen didn't move either, though all he needed to do was step back, away from Kanda's sword. Perhaps he was still in shock from Kanda's sudden appearance, since Kanda suspected that he wasn't expecting him to return.

"I have one question for you, Moyashi." Kanda said.

"W-what is it?"

"Which part of the forest do you throw all the victims that you have eaten from?"

Allen blinked. Just once at first, and then it became high-speed blinking.

"Eh?"

"Answer!" Kanda snapped.

Allen jolted, opening his mouth. "At the right end of the forest, the only part that can't be seen from the mansion."

Kanda did not say anything to that, only staring fixedly at Allen. Once he deemed that he was telling the truth, he moved his sword away with a snort, sliding it back into the sheath.

"…Kanda?"

"What?"

"You… Why… Why did you come back? Did you remember? How…?"

Kanda clicked his tongue, using his height to stare down at Allen.

"Hmph. That little trick of yours doesn't work on me, Moyashi."

"…Trick?"

"That thing you did to my memories."

Allen gaped at Kanda, unable to comprehend.

"Memory alteration does not work on you? Why? It has never failed before… Kanda, you… What are you?"

Kanda silently stared at Allen for a moment. He raised his eyes to look around the room, taking in the dirty white walls and the complete emptiness of it, save for a coffin placed in the middle. Rather than a room, it felt more like a cage. Another thing that caught his eye were the charms pasted on the walls.

His gaze finally settled back on Allen who was still watching him with wide eyes.

Kanda gestured with his head for Allen to head outside with him.

Allen blinked, and then vehemently shook his head.

"Moyashi?" Kanda questioned.

"I can't go outside, Kanda."

"Why?"

Allen frowned as he explained, "After drinking your blood, my power has been running amok. If I go outside, I may end up destroying this place. But in here, my powers are suppressed."

Kanda observed Allen's downcast eyes, and his frustrated expression.

He sighed, eyebrows knitting together in annoyance.

He stepped further into the room, causing Allen to retreat backwards. He only stopped when Allen was about to trip over the coffin behind him. The atmosphere between them was tensed and heavy.

Allen broke the silence, watching Kanda with curious eyes. "Kanda, please tell me. Just what are you?"

Kanda narrowed his eyes.

"I don't know." He said.

"…What? What do you mean by that?" Allen spluttered, unable to believe what he just heard.

"Exactly what I said."

"But how is that possible? You're clearly not human!"

"Yes, I'm not an ordinary human, even I know that much. But I never bothered to find out the truth behind why I am like this." Kanda snapped. "It wasn't important anyway."

"Hah? But it's about you, Kanda! Don't you want to know?"

"I don't."

Allen just stared at him, having a hard time trying to follow Kanda's logic.

Kanda scowled, his irritation written all over his face. He said, "So what if I am naturally stronger and faster than most? So what if my body has regenerative abilities? They don't matter, since they don't interfere with my job as a Hunter at all. In fact, it's very convenient. I don't have to worry about idiots trying to use weird abilities on me."

The hidden meaning behind Kanda's last sentence was not lost on Allen. He fidgeted a little, averting his eyes from Kanda's.

Kanda shifted, turning his face slightly to one side as he stared at Allen. He seemed to be contemplating something, and Allen didn't dare interrupt the already irritated man.

And then Kanda opened his mouth to speak.

"I was born in a laboratory, instead of a hospital. The scientists there were obviously doing experiments of some sort, and I was clearly a result of that. I was raised in the laboratory until it was completely destroyed."

" _What?_ _A laboratory?_ That's… No, I suppose it's only natural. Humans are despicable beings capable of doing unimaginably cruel things, after all. But… How was the laboratory destroyed?"

"A supernatural being came and killed everyone. He burned down everything as well."

Allen blinked. "…Then, seeing as how you are alive now, were you spared?"

Kanda snorted.

"If you want to see it that way, go ahead. But to me, it looked like that man was only acting on a whim. He didn't especially come to save me or anything, I just happened to be there, and at that moment, he probably decided that leaving me alive would be fun or something along those lines. After all, the one thing that all supernatural beings have in common is their whimsical ways and selfishness."

"Oh…" Allen frowned a little, but didn't comment on Kanda's opinion about supernatural beings. Instead, he asked, "But who was that man?"

"How am I supposed to know? Do you think he introduced himself to me while on a killing spree, you stupid beansprout?"

Allen twitched at the use of the nickname, glaring at Kanda as though silently reprimanding him.

Kanda wasn't affected at all.

"I don't care who he is. If I were to meet him again because of my job, I will still kill him if needed. But if we never cross paths again, that's fine too."

"…"

Allen did not know what to say to that. He just stared blankly, head spinning with all that Kanda just revealed.

After a long moment of silence between them, eventually, Allen asked a question.

"But… As a Hunter, won't the people who you work with question you on your strange abilities? Or are all Hunters the same as you?"

"Don't know." Kanda muttered.

"Huh?"

"I don't know about other Hunters. Never worked with them."

"Eh? Never? But aren't Hunters some kind of organization? …At least, that's what the humans say."

"They are, but I'm not. I don't work with anyone, I don't belong to any group. I am needed here, so I stay in this area as a solo Hunter. That is enough." Kanda explained.

"…Oh." Allen blinked. So that was why. With no one to answer to, with no one to question him, Kanda was free to do whatever he wanted. Even if it meant never finding out about the reason why he was different from everyone else.

"Then, Kanda. I want to ask you a question."

Kanda just glared at him. "Haven't you already been asking me things since earlier?"

Allen chuckled lightly, "That's true." But his smiled dropped as he asked, "Kanda, why did you return? Are you here to attempt to kill me again?"

Kanda snorted, and his sword softly clinked as he turned to the side.

"I just wanted to confirm something." Kanda murmured.

"Confirm what?" Allen asked.

"The man-eating monster rumours."

"…And what is your decision, Kanda?"

"If you are telling the truth about how you don't consume flesh, and that you have a constant place where you dump your victims, then I know the true reason behind those rumours."

Allen tilted his head, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Those unnatural beasts… The one hunting down the humans should be them."

"Kanda? What is it? I don't understand."

Kanda growled in annoyance, glaring at Allen. "There's a pack of wild wolves in that place where you throw your victims!" He snapped.

" _What?"_ Allen gasped, horror splashing over his face.

"They were different from normal wolves. They were too large, and too abnormally strong. They didn't fall even after receiving a strong hit from me. I had to kill them all to get away."

Kanda paused for a moment, then continued, "If those you drank from are all empty-handed when you throw their bodies there, it's mostly likely that they didn't have the means to fight. Even if they carried weapons, it was impossible for them to win against those things. So they could only run.

"Of course, seeing as how they are just ordinary humans, there is no way they could outrun a beast. It only resulted in them getting eaten."

Kanda glanced over at Allen, watching him take in the news.

Allen's expressions were constantly changing, from horror to shock, and then from shock to guilt. Then he lowered his head, legs giving out as he sank to the floor.

With the softest sigh, Kanda continued on, "It most probably began from there. Once those wolves had a taste of human flesh, they may have started to hunt down humans. That's why even if the humans don't come anywhere near this mansion, when they enter too deep into the forest, they are killed by those wolves."

Kanda's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"But because of the humans' fears, they hardly enter the forest now. It's probable that the hungry wolves actually left the safety of their forest, approaching close to the towns to hunt down humans as food. Thus, the sudden spike in missing humans."

He fell silent for a while, the crease between his eyebrows deepening as he analysed the situation.

Eventually, he said, "They don't seem to be werewolves. From what I've heard, werewolves are much stronger and they retain most of their ability to think even after they change into beast forms. Even if they attack and kill humans, they generally don't consume them.

"Perhaps, a disease or something has infected the forest wolves, causing them to turn into abnormal beasts. But that is just a guess on my part, thorough investigation will have to be done in order to fully understand what's going on."

Allen gritted his teeth, hands clenching into fists.

"…So that means that all this had started from me. Because of me, because of my actions, things have progressed to this point."

Allen never once raised his head, directing his words towards the floor.

Kanda's lips turned down into a frown as he stared at Allen. He closed his eyes as a sigh left his lips, and then spoke in his next sentences in steady voice.

"I killed all the wolves that came after me, but there may be others lurking around. You just have to stop dumping your victims there so that those that have yet to taste human flesh will stick to hunting other prey."

Allen's head snapped up, his wide-eyed gaze locking on Kanda.

"…You are not going to kill me?" He asked.

"I don't do unjust killing." Kanda levelled Allen with a fierce stare as he said that. Then, he turned his face to the side as he continued, "If you're not the one behind the actual killing, and it's an honest mistake on your part, then there's no need for pointless deaths."

Allen blinked, blankly staring at Kanda in shock.

Kanda spared him one last glance before he turned around and walked away.

Allen didn't stop him.

The sound of the main doors slamming shut echoed throughout the silent mansion.


	9. Descend into Madness

**A/N:**

…I wonder if there are people still reading this? My apologies for the sudden lack of updates. As stated before, this story will end in ten chapters.

Please enjoy.

* * *

 **Chapter Nine**

Descend into Madness

* * *

It was during spring one day that Allen finally saw Kanda again.

He was moving about in the forest, with someone else by his side. They were still quite a distance away from the mansion, but Allen never had a problem with seeing far.

The one skipping alongside Kanda was a tall male, even taller than Kanda.

He had bright red hair, held up with a green bandana and an eyepatch over his right eye. What took Allen's attention was the black hammer the man was twirling around in his hand.

Allen could only gaped, feeling strangely helpless at the scene he saw.

First, it was Kanda wielding a sword, then it was this red-haired man carrying around a hammer.

Was this man a Hunter too?

He must be, because he was as equally strange as Kanda had been.

But this was the first time that Allen had ever seen Kanda working together with another Hunter. Had Kanda somehow joined the Hunter Organisation?

As soon as the thought formed, Allen quickly shook his head to dispel it. Kanda was not the type to go against his own decisions, so there must be another reason. Allen silently watched on.

Rather than making their way towards the mansion, they curved to the right, heading into a part of the forest that Allen couldn't see. Were they going to hunt down the wolves that Kanda mentioned before he left back then?

But it was completely bright out, and weren't wolves nocturnal?

Allen frowned, curious.

However, the painful chains of isolation he had imposed on himself prevented him from doing anything. Kanda knew about his true identity, and had chosen to ignore it. If that man beside Kanda learnt of Allen's identity as a vampire, would he ignore it as well?

Or would he attack Allen with intentions to kill?

And would Kanda simply stand by and watch or would he finally decide that he wanted to kill Allen?

Besides, watching Kanda walk around with someone so bright and cheerful only highlighted how different Allen was. Kanda may be a Hunter, involved with the darkness of supernatural creatures, but even so, he would always remain within the light.

In a place where Allen can never reach.

Those thoughts swirled around in his mind, pinning him down.

So he remained as he always had, standing by the window to gaze out at the world beyond.

* * *

He saw the red-haired man quite a few times after that, but the man never approached the mansion. Even when he was wandering around alone, he didn't come close.

It seems like the man was avoiding the mansion.

Allen briefly wondered if Kanda had said something.

Or perhaps not.

If the rumours had stopped going around, then that man obviously had no reason to visit the mansion anyway. Which was a good thing for Allen, because he could live in peace that way.

But after that encounter with Kanda, an emotion that Allen had forced down so many centuries ago began to resurface.

In this eerily quiet, untouched place, and the constant darkness surrounding him, Allen began to feel lonely.

Loneliness was only natural for a being like Allen, one who is feared by humans.

Allen understands. He understood their fears of the unknown, and of him who hunts them for food. He does not kill, but they didn't know that.

Even so, it hurt.

The misunderstandings of the humans, the rumours they spread that weren't true. Even though Allen understands, they still hurt.

So in order to not hurt himself anymore, he forces down his emotions, wearing a mask of the 'monster' they knew when dealing with humans. He needed to do this in order to protect himself.

Because there is no longer anyone there to comfort him when he was hurt.

He, who only lives in the tales of the humans. He, whose mythical existence within the humans' stories only brings about fear and hatred. He, who remains forgotten, left behind even by time.

Within the darkness of this world, he was alone.

So he cannot get hurt.

Kill off his emotions, erase the things that cause him pain, and become a doll of darkness.

Allen raised his eyes, staring up at the brilliant blue sky. Distantly, he wondered if Mana had gone through the same thing.

Mana was lonely.

So, so painfully lonely that he chose to pick up a dirty child huddled in an alley, and raise him by his side.

But even with Allen there, Mana was still drowning in a deep, black pool of loneliness.

They had happy times, Allen and Mana.

His memories of those were slowly fading away, but Allen knew, deep within his heart, that they had been happy, even if it's only for a short while.

As blissful as that happiness was, it wasn't enough for Mana.

It couldn't save him.

Allen was never able to find out just what it was that Mana had been waiting for in that darkness he was in, and instead, he could only helplessly watch on as Mana continued to sink deeper and deeper.

And then Mana broke.

Allen chuckled mirthlessly, a bitter smile on his face.

His eyes were gazing out into the distance, but all he saw was the deep darkness within him.

"Hey, Mana…" Allen softly whispered, his voice hoarse and brittle. "I wonder if someday, I will be just like you."

Yes, just like Mana, Allen would drown within himself.

And turn insane.

He could already see it happening before his eyes.

The blinding light that Kanda was, only served to drag him further down into the darkness. Perhaps it was a mistake to involve himself with Kanda, but he couldn't stay away. Even if it meant that he would end up hurt by his own actions, Allen still wanted to get to know that man.

He didn't regret it.

Allen closed his eyes tight, exhaling softly.

* * *

x

* * *

The years passed peacefully, the long winters of this region having come and gone thrice.

He did not know if it was Kanda's work, but the humans had stopped approaching his mansion. Perhaps it was indirectly linked to Kanda; with the truth of the rumours now revealed, the humans no longer held any interest in the monster that dwells within the abandoned mansion.

And so his existence was left to sleep until something out of the ordinary happens, where he would then revive in the tales of the humans once more.

Allen didn't mind it.

The effects of Kanda's blood had settled down after a while, but Allen was still cautious about his body and power. He no longer had to shut himself away in the room for a few days every week, allowing him to return to his stagnant life of standing by the window for months on end.

He wasn't hungry either, the strange properties of the blood somehow keeping his thirst for blood at bay. He briefly wondered about how the scientists had modified Kanda's blood to such an extent. Well, there was no answer for that now.

He had seen many humans moving about in the forest, stocking up on firewood for the winter, faces filled with smiles and free from the fear they had shown before.

But the one person that he never saw again was Kanda.

He did not know if Kanda was avoiding entering the forest, or that he was perhaps somewhere else, helping out the humans who were in need of a Hunter.

A tiny part of him wanted to meet Kanda again, but that part of him was steadily being drowned out by the darkness within him that grew day by day.

Perhaps it was a good thing if he never sees Kanda again.

He would become a truly dangerous being when he ends up being swallowed by the creeping madness. The image of the monster that Mana had turned into kept repeating over and over in his head. Those terrifying predatory eyes was burned into back of his mind, watching him, waiting for him to fall.

It wasn't that Allen was weak, not at all. To have been able to live alone all this time, with occasional contact with the warmth of humans, reminding him the human that he used to be – _that he couldn't be anymore_ – was not something anyone could do.

He wasn't weak, and neither was he naïve.

He knew, he could feel it. The darkness within him was something that he would never be able to win against.

With a sigh, he slowly turned around, walking towards his room.

* * *

Allen settled down on top of his coffin, turning his head to the right, looking upwards.

The room was completely devoid of windows, save for one single, tiny, broken window placed high up on the wall. From Allen's current position, he had to tilt his head up to look out of that window.

He could see the sky, but with the window so high up, it always made Allen feel that it was impossible for him to reach no matter how much or how desperately he tried.

In his self-imposed prison, he could only watch as the clouds slowly drifted past. Really, he was pathetic, wasn't he?

Just like a bird with clipped wings, even though the exit was left wide open for him, he couldn't fly.

If he tried, he would only plummet to his death.

Idly tracing circles on his coffin with his fingertips, he tore his gaze away from the sky above after a while. His silver eyes focused on his feet. The feel of smooth wood under his fingers was strangely soothing.

He was tired.

…Maybe he should sleep. Sleeping until his body dried up sounded interesting. And that way, he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone in his unstable state.

He blinked when a sudden image of Kanda appeared in his mind.

Ahh, there was that option too.

He could get Kanda to kill him.

Rip out his heart like the way he had done to Mana.

Before he loses his mind, before he gets overwhelmed by the madness, it would be better to die first.

Raising his head, his eyes instinctively sought out the little square of blue sky again.

A little chuckle slipped past his lips as he cocked his head. How strange, the thought of dying that should have caused fear only made him want to laugh. Has he already gone crazy?

Dying sounded fun, pleasant even. It was a good thing, wasn't it?

Allen's eyes slid shut as a sudden smile bloomed on his face.

"Yes, I suppose dying wouldn't be so bad."


	10. Final

**A/N:**

 **To blackheads:** There's no pairings for this, but if you were to squint, you may find some hints of Yullen.

Thank you for all your support and reviews! They always made me so happy and I'm really grateful to you guys. This chapter is much longer than the previous ones, over 6000 words. Please enjoy.

* * *

 **Final Chapter**

Oh Pitiful Vampire, Rest Your Weary Soul

* * *

Kanda frowned as he found himself staring into the direction of the forest again. More precisely, the abandoned mansion within the forest.

It's been half a year since he reported the truth behind the missing people to the town mayor, leaving out anything about the vampire living in the mansion.

With his home at the edge of the town, a glance out the window was all it needed for Kanda to gaze into the overgrown forest near the town. It was something he had grown used to, often sitting by the window.

But what annoyed him now was the way his eyes always followed a certain path, looking into the same direction. It wasn't like this before.

Kanda scowled, glaring at the mansion hidden behind a bunch of trees.

This behaviour wasn't like him.

He wasn't concern about the white-haired vampire. It's just that he was watching to see if the vampire was up to anything. After all, the vampire never did anything that really made him stand out to Kanda.

But then, why did Kanda constantly find himself looking in that direction?

Perhaps it was because he could tell.

From the very first meeting with that white-haired kid, he realised that the kid was engulfed with a darkness so deep that it drew his attention.

And then, they started their little game.

Kanda knew he was being observed by the vampire, but he was also doing the same. It didn't take long before Kanda realised that the kid wasn't human. But he never mentioned it. Instead, he continued to live with the vampire, trying to find out just what exactly he was like.

The white-haired kid smiled a lot; sometimes fake and sometimes real.

He looked at Kanda like he was his saviour or something. Those startlingly earnest eyes that shone whenever he noticed Kanda, contrasted harshly with the darkness surrounding the boy. It was strangely intriguing.

Even so, their little game must come to an end eventually, and Kanda took it into his hands to end it.

Was it guilt then? Was that the reason why his eyes kept straying to the mansion?

It wasn't like him to get involved with others, in fact, he hated it.

So why was he feeling guilty for not even trying to touch upon the darkness enveloping the boy?

Maybe, maybe because the boy was similar to him?

But the darkness around the boy was much, much deeper than Kanda's own. It felt as though it was too late, that there was nothing he could do to pull the boy out of there.

Irritated, Kanda growled, turning his head away from the window.

Perhaps it was guilt, perhaps it was concern.

But the way to deal with those foreign emotions…

…Kanda didn't know how.

* * *

"Yuu, what are you looking at?"

Kanda whipped around, his sword stopping an inch away from the red-haired man's face.

"Don't call me by my first name." Kanda hissed. "I'll slice you up."

The red-haired man smiled, raising his hands in surrender.

It was a very familiar pose, one that he had seen not too long ago, from a certain beansprout.

Annoyed, Kanda clicked his tongue and pulled his sword away.

Red hair held up with a green bandana, and an eyepatch over his right eye; this man was known as Lavi Bookman. He was tall too, taller than Kanda.

Kanda didn't know much about Lavi, and never bothered to ask.

However, he knew that Lavi was a Hunter from the Organisation. They had met a few years ago, coincidentally meeting while both of them were at the other end of the town. Kanda really did not want to be associated with the Hunter Organisation, so he had given up the mission he had received from the town mayor, letting Lavi finish it.

It didn't matter who ended it since the outcome they wanted was the same.

But Lavi had started stalking him after that.

They ended up meeting too often to be called a mere coincidence. Lavi had stuck to him like glue once he learnt that Kanda was a solo Hunter, not belonging to any group.

He never asked questions about Kanda, though he would observe Kanda every now and then.

Lavi never once tried to rope him into joining the Organisation, and neither did he tell anyone about him, if the lack of Hunters coming to recruit him was any indication. Therefore, Kanda didn't care about Lavi's presence.

"So, what was it that you were looking at?" Lavi repeated his question, his single eye wide with curiosity.

"None of your business." Kanda growled, walking away from the window.

Lavi hummed, tilting his head.

He followed the direction that Kanda was looking in earlier, towards the forest. His eye narrowed slightly as he thought. It's been almost a year now since Kanda solved the case of the missing people for the town.

Lavi had come and gone Kanda's place many times during that period, and he would often catch Kanda looking into the direction of the forest. At first, Lavi simply ignored it, thinking that it was one of Kanda's rare but strange moments.

But no matter how long Lavi ignored it, Kanda would still continuing looking at a certain direction with a frown on his face.

It was different from the way he would usually gaze at it. Lavi's keen eye picked up on the changes in Kanda's expression. Rather than a frown of annoyance, it was almost like Kanda was worried about something.

Did he leave something behind in the forest?

But that carelessness wasn't like Kanda at all.

Kanda softly cursed, startling Lavi out of his thoughts. He didn't even glance at Lavi as he left his house, scowling. He was heading towards the town. Lavi blinked after him, but did not follow.

As odd as this was, perhaps after some time, Kanda would stop this strange behaviour.

Lavi didn't mind waiting.

* * *

o-0-o

* * *

Lavi stared at Kanda, who was seated on his bed, carefully polishing his sword.

Kanda had just came back from a request by the town mayor that had him staying three towns away. Kanda's personality wasn't the best, but his skills were highly valued. So when there were rumours of a terrifying supernatural creature, the town mayor sent Kanda over to check it out.

Lavi wasn't sure what took Kanda so long this time, because he had stayed away for two years.

But once he heard that Kanda had returned home, Lavi rushed over to visit him.

Kanda was still the same, even after so long.

Ten years.

It has been ten years since they had last worked together, during the case of the strange wolves dwelling in the forest.

* * *

Back then, Lavi had stayed with Kanda for a while after the case with the wolves, and though Kanda complained, he never did make good on his threat of kicking Lavi out.

When he had time to spare, Lavi would take a stroll in the forest, twirling his black hammer leisurely as he did so. After those few days of scouting the right side of the forest and killing a number of man-eating wolves with Kanda, he was rather familiar with the route to take.

Lavi had stealthily sent a couple of the wolves to the Hunters Organization he was working under, though he suspected that Kanda knew. But as expected of Kanda, he didn't say anything.

Actually, Lavi had his suspicions that Kanda actually _wanted_ him to do that. Kanda had seemed oddly eager (even though his face didn't so much as twitch) when Lavi brought the report on the wolves to him. The science department in the Hunters Organisation had managed to come to a conclusion after many tiring experiments.

The forest wolves were infected with a new disease that should have only affected werewolves. It wasn't anything serious, the werewolves would end up lethargic for a couple of days, that was all. Due to their robust bodies, they are able to purge themselves of the disease.

But somehow, something went wrong and the disease mutated itself, worming its way into the bodies of natural wolves and turning them berserk. It resulted in unnatural growth of the wolves, no pain sensors, and a thirst for killing.

They kill not just for hunger, but also for the sake of killing.

The wolves in the forest of the town Kanda stayed in was the first to attempt to consume human flesh. Once was enough. The wolves gained a taste for humans and brought that trait over to the other towns.

The Hunters of the Organisation were tasked with shooting the wolves with vaccines made by the science department in an effort to save the natural wolves and prevent their extinction.

When the Organisation first questioned Lavi on how he discovered the diseased wolves, Lavi never once said a word about Kanda. In fact, he has been hiding Kanda's existence from them.

If they had learnt of Kanda, they would surely force him into the Organisation. The strength he had was not a joking matter, and with him in the Organisation, it would greatly increase their power. However, Lavi couldn't imagine Kanda working in group at all.

It didn't suit him.

But more than that, Lavi did not want to force Kanda into a place where he could never escape from. He was free, and Lavi was not going to take that away from him.

During the time when Kanda was working on the mysterious wolves alone, when he had coincidentally seen Lavi in town, Kanda had grabbed him by his shirt's collar and dragged him all the way into the forest to hunt down the wolves.

It was the first time that Kanda had approached him willingly on his own. Usually, it was always Lavi intruding upon Kanda. The fact that Kanda had requested (ordered) Lavi to help him was enough to put Lavi in a good mood for weeks.

He was glad that at least, Kanda trusted him enough to be willing to work with him – regardless of whatever ulterior motives he had.

…Then again, maybe he just wanted to use that opportunity to throw Lavi into a pack of vicious, man-eating wolves.

* * *

Lavi chuckled, amused by his recollections.

Kanda raised his head, sending him a look that clearly doubted his sanity. He softly clicked his tongue, and shifted his eyes away. But his gaze didn't return back onto his sword, rather, it shifted to the window.

It was only for a brief moment, but Lavi saw it.

Kanda had the exact same expression on his face as he had ten years ago whenever he looked into the forest.

Lavi frowned.

Was ten years not enough?

Just what was it that was able to draw Kanda's attention for such a long time?

Kanda abruptly stood up then, startling Lavi.

"I'm heading out." Kanda muttered.

"Eh? Where are you going?" Lavi asked.

"Town. I'm hungry." Kanda simply replied.

"Oh." Lavi stared after him as he left.

Over these ten years, Kanda had changed a little.

His hair was still as long, tied up in his usual ponytail. He had gained more muscles and height, but still retained his lithe figure. And his sword skills only got better and better. It got to the point where Lavi was quite certain that should he engage in a serious fight against Kanda, he would lose in minutes.

The biggest change would be Kanda's temperament. He wasn't as easily irritated, even allowing Lavi to get away with calling him by his first name quite a few times. Though he still wasn't the most sociable, if he happened to come across Lavi struggling in a mission by himself, Kanda would actually step forward to help him. Of course, while Kanda did help, he also made sure to still toss some comments about useless rabbits and such.

Lavi didn't mind though.

Now, he watched Kanda stroll through the town from the front door, waiting patiently until Kanda entered his usual Japanese restaurant.

Once Kanda was out of sight, Lavi decided to use this chance. Kanda would probably really kill him this time if he found out what he was up to, so Lavi had to do this secretly.

Lavi snuck out of the town, body thrumming in anticipation of a good adventure.

It was a good thing that Kanda's place was near the edge of the town, making it easy to travel into the forest.

He treaded along the familiar forest path, stopping once the abandoned mansion came into view.

He hummed thoughtfully, looking back at the way he came.

It was just an estimation, he couldn't be sure, but perhaps what Kanda was looking at was the abandoned mansion?

Was there something inside?

Lavi frowned.

Well, it couldn't hurt to explore it.

The sound of leaves and twigs snapping under his feet seemed loud in the suffocating silence of the forest. It was still day, but around this area, an odd atmosphere filled the air.

He had always avoided it because there was nothing fascinating about an old mansion, but if Kanda really was looking at it, then there must be something within.

Something highly interesting.

Coming up to the tall gates of the mansion, he easily climbed over them.

"There we go." Lavi softly murmured as he landed neatly on the other side of the gates. He stopped to take in the exterior of the mansion. It was crumbling in places, eerily dark and quiet even in the light of day.

He walked towards the main doors, carefully pulling it open.

It was dark inside, the sunlight streaming in through the windows not helping at all. It was as though the mansion itself was repelling the light. How strange. Lavi's footsteps echoed within the mansion, making a low noise as his boots clicked against the floor.

The flooring was actually quite fancy, perhaps this mansion once belonged to a highly ranked aristocrat a long time ago.

Lavi took his time wandering around the first floor, and then moved on to the basement. There really was nothing much at all, everything was broken and looked to be untouched for centuries. Sighing disappointedly, he climbed up the stairs to the second floor, where it was exactly the same.

The flight of stairs still continued upwards, so there must be more floors above.

There should be an attic within this mansion.

Lavi liked attics, because the weirdest things are usually found there.

Slightly impatient, he jogged up the stairs to the third floor.

He blinked when a large, spacious living room greeted him.

Broken glass littered the ground, making it quite a nuisance to walk around.

Lavi turned down a hallway, where rows and rows of doors met his searching gaze.

Curiosity quipped, he carefully searched for special doors. They all looked the same, but perhaps there may be hidden clues among them. A drawing on door, or maybe a decorated doorknob, all those would lead to interesting things.

But with each door he passed, there was nothing.

With his enthusiasm dimming, he crossed his arms behind his head as he walked blindly. He was about to turn around once he reached the end of the long hallway, but something caught his eye.

At the furthest corner, an off-white door was nestled there. It blended in well with the dirty white walls, but upon a second look, Lavi could clearly see the door.

His lips pulled up into a large grin as his eye shone with excitement.

Yes, this was it. It was things like this that always lead to wonderfully interesting findings.

Lavi nearly ran towards the door, his keen eye observing the doorknob. It was rather dusty, but compared to the other doors, it was well-polished, reflecting even the slightest light.

Heart thumping, he reached out to dust off the doorknob. Once satisfied, he slowly turned the knob. Soundlessly opening the door, he cautiously stepped in.

He blinked, dumbfounded.

…There was nothing there, save for a coffin right in the middle.

Ignoring the coffin for now, he glanced around the room. Paper charms were stuck firmly onto the walls, charms that Lavi immediately recognised.

Those charms were used by a selected section of the Organisation, mostly for binding the supernatural creatures that the Hunters caught.

Why were the charms here?

They were clearly very old, but still working.

This room, was it used by a member of the Organisation before?

Or was it just the result of someone else dipping their fingers into something they shouldn't have?

Frowning, Lavi decided to place that aside for now.

He approached the coffin, stopping a couple of steps away.

With a deep breath of courage and his hammer in hand, he lifted the lid of the coffin.

It swung open easily, and Lavi was left completely flabbergasted as he gazed into the coffin.

Hair as white as snow, a young face that couldn't be older than twenty, and an awe inducing pure black left arm.

This kid, whoever it was, was sleeping peacefully within the coffin.

Lavi's eye immediately focused on the red scar marring the left side of the boy's face, at the filled in pentacle that would have surely frighten any human. It looked as though the boy was cursed.

And that black arm, with fingers that looked like it was made of scales rather than actual skin.

Was that even still considered as skin though, Lavi didn't know.

He raised his head, his single eye roaming around the room again, resting on each and every charm on the wall. Then it shifted down onto the coffin, and then on the boy.

All this only pointed to one thing.

This boy, was he perhaps, a vampire?

Vampires were the rarest of the supernatural creatures, because they excelled in hiding themselves. In all the years Lavi had been working in the Hunter Organisation, no one had ever brought in a vampire. Thus, this was the first time Lavi had actually seen one with his own eyes.

The vampire did not move at all, neither was he breathing.

Lavi scratched his cheek, frowning.

Do vampires even breathe though? The Organisation barely had any information on these elusive creatures. The only thing that was known was that vampires were really strong.

Taking a chance, Lavi reached down and poke the vampire's cheek.

There was no reaction.

He did it again, and again, and again.

No matter how many times, there was no reaction at all.

Was this vampire dead, perhaps?

But according to legends, vampires turn into ash upon dying.

Lavi slapped a hand to his forehead, groaning.

Why was this so complicated?

How did he end up in this predicament again? Ah, right. It was because of Kanda and his odd attachment that never faded even after ten years.

…Kanda.

Lavi blinked, frozen for a moment.

That's right, Kanda. He had been looking at this abandoned mansion for sure, Lavi knew that now. Kanda must have known about the existence of this vampire.

Lavi stood up, staring down at the motionless boy.

"…I'll bring Kanda here." He murmured to himself, reaching out to slowly and carefully close the coffin's lid.

Turning around, he made sure to close the room door as well.

And then he sped off to go hunt down Kanda.

* * *

"Shut up! I don't know!"

"Lies! You clearly know about this!"

"You stupid rabbit, ask me again and I will cut you down!"

Lavi frowned at Kanda, who was glaring hard at him.

Damn it. This wasn't working the way he wanted it to. Then again, seeing as how this was Kanda, he really should have expected this.

No choice then, desperate times calls for desperate measures.

Before that vampire wakes up, he had to get Kanda there.

"Sorry, Yuu. But don't kill me for this." Lavi said.

Kanda's eyes narrowed but Lavi didn't allow him time to speak. He grabbed the back of Kanda's coat, and took off with him.

Kanda cursed, loud and harsh, and Lavi flinched with each promised threat.

As always, Kanda was scary when pissed.

Lavi ran fast, not giving time for Kanda to get his feet under him properly. To avoid face-planting the ground, Kanda had no choice but to run according to Lavi's pull.

Once Lavi was nearly at the gates of the mansion, he extended his hammer high enough to throw them both into the third floor window.

They crashed and tumbled, catching their breath.

The next second however, Kanda's sword came slashing down at him without mercy. With a cry, Lavi twisted his hammer around just in time to block the deadly sword.

Kanda was panting hard, his eyes only focused on Lavi and blind to all.

Uh-oh.

Kanda was really going to kill him at this rate.

Lavi dodged the second swing of Kanda's sword, scrambling to his feet. He desperately defended himself against the heavy strikes of Kanda's sword, attempting to get Kanda to listen to him.

"W-w-wait! Just wait a minute and listen to me, Yuu!"

"Hey! Slow down! Woah!" Lavi jumped backwards, broken glass cracking beneath his feet. "Damn it, Yuu! Just listen to my explanation!"

But Kanda paid him no heed, ignoring his words and proceeded to try and cut him down.

Lavi groaned internally.

If talking didn't work, then…

Praying that it would work out well, he spun around, sliding under Kanda's sword to place himself behind him. Kanda flipped the sword around, twisting his arm just enough to allow him to stab backwards. Lavi barely avoided it, and his shirt received a very neat slash. But he didn't pause, once again grabbing onto Kanda and taking off with him.

They burst into the room at the corner of the mansion, Lavi diving for the coffin's lid immediately after releasing his grip on Kanda. He pulled it open and hid behind the lid.

Kanda's attack abruptly stopped as he stared down at the pale boy in the coffin.

"…Moyashi?" Kanda murmured, surprised.

Lavi sank to his feet, relieved.

It worked.

To think it actually worked.

He knew it; Kanda was actually acquainted with the vampire.

Lavi peeked out from behind the coffin.

"You know him, don't you?" He said, grinning.

Kanda shot him a vicious glare, but did nothing.

Kanda's eyes travelled to the boy, and then his lip curled in irritation. He crouched down before the coffin, and yanked on the front of the boy's shirt, pulling him up.

"Wha – !" Lavi jumped up in shock, unable to believe the way Kanda was handling a scarily strong vampire.

"Oi, Moyashi." Kanda growled, shaking the boy in his grip.

"Waah! Stop that! What if he awakens and kills us both!" Lavi cried out fearfully, rushing out to stop Kanda.

"Tch. Like hell he would." Kanda snorted, violently shaking the vampire again.

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Both Lavi and Kanda suddenly froze when the vampire's eyes slowly blinked open. It took a few tries, but then the boy's eyes were completely open.

On the right, a beautiful silver eye was revealed. But on the left, there was a grotesque blood red eye.

"Moyashi?" Kanda frowned.

The boy blinked, focusing on Kanda.

Then, he opened his mouth.

Large, dangerously sharp fangs protruded from his gums as he growled. He lurched towards Kanda, causing him to quickly raise his sword to block those fangs. The vampire's fangs snapped close around the scabbard, gnawing on it.

The boy suddenly paused, releasing Kanda's sword from his grip. Before Kanda could even blink, the vampire turned and went after Lavi.

Lavi screamed in shock, running away. "I knew it would be mad! This is your fault, Yuu!"

Kanda jumped, swinging his sword down to deal a heavy blow to the vampire's torso. The boy was sent flying back, slamming into the wall.

But he didn't stop.

Somehow, he got to his feet again and attacked.

The vampire's attacks were fast, very much so that Lavi could barely dodge. But although he was fast, his attacks were predictable. As long as Lavi paid attention, he was able to safely avoid the rampaging vampire.

"Damned Moyashi! What the hell are you doing?" Kanda hissed, chasing after the vampire and using his scabbard to deal blows. His attacks weren't strong enough to break any bones, but there would be bruises for sure.

"I don't think he's conscious." Lavi informed Kanda. "Look at his eye. The silver one. It's not really looking at anything, so I think he isn't actually awake. But man, that red eye is creepy. It's shifting all around as if it has a life on its own."

Kanda glanced at the vampire's silver eye, noting that what Lavi said was true. In that case, he should probably beat some sense into that white-haired kid.

"Oi." Kanda called out to Lavi.

"Yeah?"

"Hold him down."

"Huh?"

"Hold that brat down, on his stomach. I'll beat some sense into him." Kanda growled, adjusting his hold on his sword.

Lavi gaped at Kanda for a moment, but he had to look away to dodge as vampire threw himself at him. Though he really did not approve of Kanda's method, he decided to let Kanda handle this vampire since he apparently knew the boy.

After a while and a whole lot of manoeuvring, Lavi finally managed to pin the struggling vampire down.

"I can't hold him down for long, so please hurry." Lavi breathlessly requested.

Kanda only clicked his tongue and unsheathed his sword, stabbing it into the ground, right by the boy's neck. He ignored Lavi's shocked cry.

Reaching down, he buried his fingers into the boy's white hair, using it to lift his head up.

The vampire was growling, snarling, at Kanda. He would snap his teeth at him from time to time, trying desperately to bite.

"Wake up, Moyashi." Kanda hissed.

The vampire thrashed around, and Lavi cursed as he applied more strength to hold him down.

"Just what the hell is wrong with you, Moyashi? If you continue like this, I will cut you down." To make a point, Kanda removed his sword from where it was piercing into the ground and rested it threateningly against the vampire's neck.

The touch of cold metal against his skin had the vampire growling even more, tossing about.

"What? You can't just kill it!" Lavi exclaimed, horrified.

"Shut up, I'll do what I want. Don't interfere." Kanda snapped back, never taking his eyes off the vampire.

Kanda glared down at him wordlessly.

"I will kill you, Moyashi."

He pressed the sword into the vampire's neck, and a thin line of blood trickled from the cut.

Perhaps it was the correct words to trigger the vampire, or maybe it was just a coincidence, but suddenly, the silver eye of the vampire flickered.

It twitched, falling shut, only to open up again a moment later.

And then, the silver eye that Kanda recognised was looking back at him.

The vampire froze, staring at Kanda.

"…K-Kanda?" The vampire asked, his voice breaking between the syllables of Kanda's name.

"Moyashi." Kanda returned.

"He's awake?" Lavi's eye widened in surprise.

The vampire turned around as much as he could, blinking at Lavi.

"…Hi, I'm Lavi. I'm from the Hunter Organisation, but I'm not here on any official orders. So, uh… Nice to meet you." Lavi introduced himself, lips quirking up into a wry smile. Giving an introduction of himself while pinning down someone… It was kind of funny, yet not.

There was recognition in the vampire's eyes that made Lavi curious, but since he wasn't assured of the vampire's sanity yet, he didn't release him.

Without saying a single word to Lavi, the vampire turned away and faced Kanda once again.

"Why are you here?" He asked, directing the question to Kanda. It was clearly difficult for him to speak, and his unused, hoarse voice was painful to listen to, but that didn't stop him.

"That idiot rabbit dug you up from your coffin." Kanda answered.

"You're the one who woke him up in such a violent way!" Lavi retorted, feeling wrongly blamed.

"Oh… You look sort of different, Kanda." The vampire commented.

"What do you expect? It's been ten years."

"Ten years? I see."

The vampire's body suddenly trembled hard, twisting uncontrollably under Lavi's hold.

"Woah, woah! What's wrong, Vampire?" Lavi quickly forced him down, using as much strength as he could.

Kanda stared without flinching as the red eye of the boy squirmed around. Left to right, top to bottom, over and over, the red eye thrashed within the eye socket.

The vampire coughed, his single silver eye glazing over.

Kanda reached down, lightly slapping the vampire. "Oi, focus."

With effort, the vampire brought his gaze up to meet Kanda's eyes.

"…Kanda." The boy murmured.

"What?"

"Kanda, please kill me."

Kanda's eyes widened a little, while Lavi was frozen stiff with shock.

"Why?" Kanda asked.

"It's started. And I can't stop it." The boy answered.

"What do you mean?"

"…Just like Mana. I will end up just like Mana. I will be consumed by this madness, and I will lose myself. ...Kill me, Kanda. While I can still fight for my sanity." The vampire lowered his eyes, looking at the damaged floor.

Kanda frowned.

Mana?

Just like Mana?

In other words, was this 'Mana' also a vampire? But nevermind that, what was this madness the beansprout mentioned?

"What exactly do you mean, Moyashi?"

"This madness consuming me… It may be an accumulation of everything from my long life. It somehow manifests itself into a survival instinct, I suppose." The vampire replied.

"Survival instinct?"

"Yeah. Mana bit me, you see. In his madness, Mana bit me and changed me into a vampire. My body moved according to his will, and I ended up killing him after he had successfully made me into a vampire." The boy blinked at Kanda.

He continued, "This madness… _This darkness_ is always there. It lives within me, growing larger and larger as the years passed. I have lived for a very long time, always fighting against the darkness. It's been so very long, and I've gotten tired. So, so tired of this endless battle going on within me.

"I don't have the strength to fight anymore, and so I'm steadily being swallowed up. I don't care if I disappear. But before I am allowed to die, I have to…" The vampire's words were cut off as a violent shudder racked his body.

Breathless, he continued, "Before I can die, I have to bite someone, change them into a vampire. Even if I do my best to restrain myself, I will lose my own will eventually. And when that happens, I won't be able to control my body anymore. That's why I call it a survival instinct. And the person nearest to me now is you, Kanda."

Kanda frowned, and then asked, "Is there a way to subdue this madness of yours?"

The vampire slowly shook his head.

"I don't know. Perhaps there may be a way, but I don't know it. It's impossible to help someone when you don't have the knowledge needed, isn't that so? It's unfortunate, but I do not have time left to wait until a method is found."

The boy's eyes found their way to Kanda's unsheathed sword.

"I don't want to change you into a vampire. And the person on top of me… Lavi, was it?" The white-haired boy slightly turned his face back, blinking at the person pinning him down. He turned away after a moment. "I recognised him. I've seen him with you. Is he your friend, Kanda? …No, that doesn't matter now. I just don't want to change him either.

"Because I don't want to impose this cruel life onto anyone. It's too painful. No one should have to go through this."

The vampire's gaze was fixed on the ground, eyebrows knitting together as he panted for breath.

"What about blood?" Kanda asked, his voice uncharacteristically subdued.

The boy blinked, raising his eyes to stare at Kanda, questioning.

"Huh?"

"What about drinking blood?" Kanda asked. "Will it hold off this madness of yours?"

"I… I don't know." The boy murmured.

"Didn't you mention something about how my blood affected you differently?" Kanda's eyes narrowed contemplatively. "And with the unique properties of my blood, it will probably aid in overpowering your madness."

A dumbfounded blink or two later, the boy smiled. It was gentle and soft, and he gazed at Kanda almost fondly. But then, he slowly shook his head.

"Thank you, Kanda, for offering to let me drink your blood." The boy's eyes flickered, becoming hazy. "But it's too dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Kanda repeated, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. There is a very high chance that you will end up being controlled by me, and turned into a vampire. Because that is what happened to me. Remember how I said that my body moved according to Mana's will? It only happened when Mana had sank his fangs into my neck and started consuming my blood. After that, he made me kill him.

"If I were to bite you now, I am certain that you will end up with the same fate. I'm barely holding on as it is. And I really don't want that, Kanda. I don't want to turn you. I won't."

"I'm not weak."

"I know."

"Then why are you being so cautious?"

"It's not because I view you as a weak person, Kanda. I just do not want to take any risk of you ending up being controlled. You are different, right down to your very blood. If I were to bite you, you may end up suffering in a completely different way. And it may not be a good thing."

Kanda fell silent, as did the boy.

Lavi's grip on the boy never slackened, though he did lower his head. He didn't know who this boy was, other than the fact that he was a vampire that Kanda somehow knew. But even so, he could feel a strange sensation bubbling up from within him.

Sadness and pity.

If this was truly the lives that vampires led, then the tales of vampires that humans created were nothing but lies. But Lavi couldn't blame them; there was barely any information on vampires, after all. It's only a given that there would be tons of rumours and lies about these creatures.

Still, to think that the strong, terrifying vampires that dominated the legends were this different… Compared to all the other types of supernatural creatures out there, vampires were the strongest, and the most elusive. They reigned at the top, untouched by anyone.

But now, Lavi knew the truth.

They were certainly strong, but at the same time, they were the most pitiable.

The strength that they held came with a suffocatingly heavy price.

The boy suddenly laughed, hoarse and bitter. Both Kanda and Lavi flinched, startled.

"You know… If it is my fate to go mad and die, then there's only one thing I wish for: to choose my death. I want to be freed by your blade, Kanda. So, please kill me. Before I lose the little control I have left."

Kanda didn't speak, only quietly watching as the boy breathed laboriously. He gave Kanda a smile, but his single silver eye remained dull and lifeless.

Finally, Kanda stood up, sword in hand.

"What do I have to do?" He asked.

"Rip out my heart." The boy said. "Last time, I ate Mana's heart. But you don't have to do that. Just rip out my heart and slice it into pieces, until it can no longer regenerate." The boy's voice was steadily growing faint as he gave Kanda the instructions.

A single look from Kanda was all it took for Lavi to nod in agreement.

He flipped the vampire over onto his back, where his chest was exposed to Kanda's sword. Then he shifted back, away from both Kanda and the vampire.

Kanda rested his sword on the boy's chest, gauging the place where his heart was.

"…I'll grant you your wish now, Moyashi."

Raising his sword up, Kanda brought it down with startling force, stabbing it through the vampire's chest without hesitation.

The boy chuckled, blood spilling down his chin.

"It's Allen, BaKanda."

Kanda twisted his sword, and pulled it out with a single, harsh tug.

At the tip of his sword, was Allen's heart.

Allen was still awake even after that, watching Kanda. He didn't seem to be in pain, but he may just be concealing it. Kanda glanced at him, pausing momentarily, and Allen noticed. A little smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he blinked.

There was no regret nor uncertainty in Allen's eyes, in fact, he actually seemed peaceful.

Kanda grunted, and with resolute determination, he sliced up the heart.

It was only a moment later that Allen's body slowly began to disintegrate, leaving behind a pile of ashes in its wake. The heart too, had starting burning down.

All the while, Allen's smile never faded.

In his last moments, he opened his mouth and in a voice that contained more air than actual words, he softly whispered, "Thank you."

A strong gust of wind suddenly blew into the room, lifting the ashes up in a spiralling dance. They flew out the only window, vanishing into the sky.

Kanda tilted his head up to stare at the bright blue sky, his hair gently caressing his face in the remnants of the sudden breeze.

His lips moved, but not even a whisper of sound slipped past them.

 _Farewell, Allen Walker._

* * *

 **End.**


End file.
